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The orthopaedic implant market includes joint replacement systems (hips and knees, as well as shoulders, wrists etc.), spinal devices and trauma fixation devices.
Total joint arthroplasty (replacement) of the hip and knee has become one of the most frequent and rewarding operations in orthopaedic surgery. World-wide more than one million such prostheses are implanted annually.
EnBIO's CoBlast™ technology can offer the following competitive advantage functions to all orthopaedic implant manufacturers
- HA Osteoconductive Surface: It has been widely shown in the scientific research literature that the most successful artificial osteoconductive coating applied to orthopaedic implants to-date is Hydroxyapatite (HA). The CoBlast™ process is more efficient and simpler that other application methods used today to apply such coatings (see the 'Product - Osteoconductive Surface' section for more information ). No other technology can apply HA unchanged or unaltered. The addition of an osteoconductive coating is particularly relevant to hip and knee replacement.
- Alternative Osteoconductive Surface: There are other potential osteoconductive coatings available which have not been commercially exploited to-date, mostly due to the lack of appropriate deposition technologies. Examples being investigated by EnBIO include flouro-apatite and bioglass. Other growth factors, osteogenetic agents (e.g. BMP's - Bone Morphogenetic Protein) and fibronectin related proteins will also help promote growth at the bone-metal interface and the scientific expectation is that such coatings may be more osteoconductive and osteoinductive that HA, leading to shorter recovery times. Contact us for further details.
- Osteosuppressive Surface: There are some orthopaedic implants (or parts of implants) where the desired result is that no bone on-growth or osteointegration occurs. An example is some trauma fixation screws which may be temporarily implanted, i.e. they are removed after the bone has healed. If osteointegration occurs the removal will be difficult. It is also desired that no bone grows on some sections of a hip implant system, i.e. at the tip of the stem.
- Antibiotic Delivery Surface: The most destructive and costly post operative problem associated with all joint replacement implants is infection (click here for more info on Infections). Through the CoBlast™ technology EnBIO can offer an antibiotic eluting surface whereby a defined amount of antibiotic (e.g. vancomycin or gentamicine) is eluted in the days immediately following the implant procedure. This will prevent early post operative infections
- Antimicrobial Surface: Late stage infection (> 3 months after the implantation) is a common problem with all orthopaedic implants. This also results in biofilm formation and is one of the major causes of revision surgery. Again, through the CoBlast™ technology, EnBIO can offer a surface which exhibits long term antimicrobial properties and which will prevent the build up of bacteria on the surface of the implant. (click here for more info on Infections)
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