Bone Therapeutics Gains Funding for Tissue Engineered Bone Implants

Bone Therapeutics and partners Cerhum, 3D-Side, mSKIL and IREC received €3 million (~USD $3.5 million) to support TrueBone3D, a new research collaboration developing biologically active, patient-tailored, 3D-printed, bioresorbable implants enriched with Bone Therapeutics’ ALLOB allogeneic bone forming cells.

This 28-month collaboration seeks to create bone implants that could replace autograft bone transplants. The aim of the resultant TrueBone3D’s cell-enriched implant is to form a safe and structurally superior alternative to bone autografts.

TrueBone3D’s scaffolds will be designed to match the missing bone part. Use of bioresorbable material will allow the implant to integrate with the surrounding bone tissue and be gradually replaced by newly formed, healthy bone. By combining the tailored scaffold with ALLOB, the enhanced tissue-engineered product is expected to exhibit strong bone-forming activities and stimulate bone regeneration. The final goal of the project is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the new personalized, tissue engineered bone implants as treatment option for non-union fractures in a proof-of-concept clinical study.

3D-Side, developer of 3D software for patient-specific medical devices, will develop the platform to plan the surgery and to determine the bone defect based on patient’s CT scan images. Cerhum, specialist in bone 3D printing, will use the 3D computer model of the bone defect to manufacture a patient-tailored resorbable implant. Bone Therapeutics’ bone-forming cells will be added during the surgical procedure. musculoSKeletal Innovative research Lab (mSKIL) of University of Liège, Belgium, and IREC (Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research) of Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, will investigate biocompatibility and bioactivity of the newly developed tissue-engineered bone implants in in vitro and in vivo models.

“The TrueBone3D consortium will enable Bone Therapeutics to share its expertise in bone regeneration and, through collaborative activity, broaden the application of its allogeneic cell therapy platform, ALLOB, to other orthopedic conditions, including large bone defects, cranial and maxillo-facial reconstruction surgeries,” said Miguel Forte, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bone Therapeutics. “Currently, for these conditions, grafts from patients’ own bone tissue are mostly used to repair the bone defects. This treatment is often associated with a range of serious complications. Bone Therapeutics, by joining forces with industry and academic experts, continues to pioneer the use of cell therapy in bone regeneration and develop potentially safer and effective treatment options that could be fully tailored to the need of the patient.”