New Technology Spurs RTI Expansion

As it broke ground for a new building Monday, Alachua-based RTI Biologics highlighted that the building will help it launch a new implant that experts say could improve performance of its bone graphs—potentially expanding the company’s sales, especially in orthopedics.

The company discussed plans for the new implant, based on extracting cells from bone marrow from cadavers, at the groundbreaking for its new $14 million, 41,165-square-foot building in the Progress Corporate Park.

The new technology, which isolates and preserves cells in donated bone tissue, “gives RTI access to the fastest-growing segment of the bone graft substitutes market—orthopedic stem cell products,” says an article on the OrthoTec website.

The new building will include processing rooms that advance technology needed for producing the new implant, says RTI’s Chief Operations Officer Tom Rose.

RTI purchased a license from Cleveland-based Athersys, Inc. in 2010 to use Athersys’ multipotent adult progenitor cell (MAPC) technology-based in orthopedic implants.

“After significant research into stem cells and the evaluation of multiple technologies, we have determined that the MAPC technology offers the greatest potential to create high quality, innovative implants for our surgeons and their patients,” RTI President and CEO Brian Hutchison said at the time of the Athersys deal.

The new process will use both MAPC cells and bone implants from the same donor to provide material for repairing bones in people receiving implants, Rose says.

 

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