Harnessing Clay Gels for Bone Tissue Repair

英国每年在骨折治疗上的花费已经达到了20亿英镑，而且随着英国人口的老龄化，这笔费用还会增加。事实上，到2030年，预计23%的英国人口将超过65岁。许多骨折导致骨科手术，反过来，由于愈合不足，需要重复。骨愈合剂是有效的，但目前很难使用，因为它们在体内是可移动的，并且可能在其他部位引起问题的副作用。英国创新基金资助了从南安普敦大学（University of Southampton）分离出来的一家新的骨科再生医学公司雷诺沃斯（Renovos），该公司将后者数十年的肌肉骨骼研究成果转化为一种令人兴奋的创新产品，允许以更精确、更本地化的方式使用骨愈合剂，提高其安全性。这种新型产品是一种粘土生物材料，它允许使用更少量的治疗剂来达到同样的效果，因此可以以更低的成本提高愈合和临床结果。在Innovate UK的资助下，雷诺沃斯将加速这种新型粘土产品作为治疗药物的开发，并为临床相关模型的测试过程做好准备，从而进行首次人体试验。最终，我们预计我们的新产品将为难以治疗的骨折提供新的解决方案。

The UK already spends £2 bn/year on bone fractures and this cost is set to increase as the UK population ages. In fact, by 2030, it is expected that 23% of the UK population will be aged over 65. Many bone fractures lead to orthopaedic operations that, in turn, need to be repeated due to inadequate healing. Bone healing agents are effective, but currently difficult to use as they are mobile in the body and can cause problematic side-effects at other sites. Innovate UK funding has allowed Renovos, a new orthopaedic regenerative medicine company, spun out from the University of Southampton, to convert decades of musculoskeletal research at the latter into an exciting, innovative product, allowing for the use of bone-healing agents in a more precise, localised manner, increasing their safety. This novel product – a clay biomaterial – allows for delivery of smaller amounts of the therapeutic agents for the same effect, and therefore can enhance healing and clinical outcomes at lower cost. With Innovate UK funding Renovos will accelerate development of this novel clay product as a therapeutic and prepare it for the process of testing in clinically-relevant models leading to first in-man trials. Ultimately, we anticipate our new product will provide a novel solution for difficult-to-treat fractures.