Surgical repair of critically sized bone defects occurs 2 million times per year. Those defects are typically filled with autologous bone implants. However, due to the inability to maintain the viability of such large bone implants, their essential functionality for tissue healing and regeneration is largely lost, leading to failure of the bone healing process. This necessitates expensive reoperation procedures and even then, the chance of failure is still big: resulting in more than 10% in amputation for complex lower limb fractures.
However, large bone implants are reliant on passive diffusion of nutrients due to the absence of functional vasculature. This causes the implanted tissues to starve and face inevitable failure. Hence, we propose that tissues have to release their own nutrients to remain viable. We call this novel concept self-feeding. We achieve this feat via the innovative use of a nutritional nanoparticle that provides on demand nutrients for cells through cell initiated enzymatic degradation.
It is the first approach that does not rely on xenogeneic enzymes, and thus operating in an unprecedented stable, continuous, and self-reliant manner. This drastically increases survival times and tissue performance compared to alternative strategies, representing a revolutionizing strategy for bone healing.
Within the BB programme we will evaluate the market and regulatory processes to transition our solution towards the market and hence the patient.
