OrthoMimetics awarded grant for development of ligament replacement

A consortium led by the Cambridge-MIT Institute spin out, OrthoMimetics Ltd (OM) has been awarded GBP 747,000 by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB) for the commercial development of LigaMimetic, a porous, resorbable tissue-regeneration scaffold that mimics the composition and structure of ligaments and their bony insertions.

The product will be used initially to enhance existing surgical techniques for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, a procedure performed worldwide an estimated 500,000 times each year.

The award forms part of the TSB’s remit to attract and develop technology-intensive companies, and follows on from , backed by an GBP 817,000 grant, to develop ChondroMimetic, OM’s product for articular-cartilage repair.

Joining OrthoMimetics in the consortium for the development of LigaMimetic are Devro Plc, a company that specialises in processing technologies for collagen-based materials, Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials, part of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at Cambridge University and the Orthopaedic Research Unit of Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge.

OM was formed in 2005 as the first spin-out from the Cambridge-MIT Institute.