Zimmer announces distribution deal for allograft bone paste

Zimmer has announced that it has signed a ten-year distribution deal with Regeneration Technologies (RTI) for the distribution of its newly-launched allograft bone paste.

Available in flowable and mouldable formulations, the paste is derived from human bone and made up of inductive and carrier elements, with the latter formulation including additional bone chips to aid osteoconduction.

The paste has been designed in such a fashion that it can be packaged easily and sterilely in a single-stage delivery system and so its characteristics are preserved in a wet environment.

David Dvorak, president and chief executive officer of Zimmer, said: “We are pleased to be able to work exclusively with RTI to combine the strength of their allograft bone paste with Zimmer’s powerful distribution network.”

He added that the advanced demineralised bone paste would now be made available to Zimmer customers, with the product acting to complement the company’s existing bone void filler products, in addition to its dental, joint reconstruction and trauma portfolios.

In February 2007, Zimmer and Isto Technologies announced the launch of a clinical trial of the Neocartilage living tissue-engineered graft treatment for cartilage defects, re-establishment of joint function and pain relief in the knee.