DePuy Synthes launches ViviGen cellular bone matrix

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DePuy Synthes, in collaboration with LifeNet Health, has announced the introduction of ViviGen cellular bone matrix, a differentiated cellular allograft for the repair or reconstruction of musculoskeletal defects. The announcement was made at the North American Spine Society (NASS) annual meeting, where the company also launched new implants and instruments for the SYNAPSE posterior stabilisation platform.

ViviGen is a HCT/P (Human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based product) comprised of cryopreserved live, viable cells within a cortical cancellous bone matrix and demineralised bone, delivering all of the properties required for bone formation.  Over the past four years, LifeNet Health has conducted research to enable the processing of ViviGen to maintain cell viability, resulting in an acceptable alternative to autograft. ViviGen has been utilised in a variety of spinal fusion surgeries since its initial availability.

“My experience early on has shown that ViviGen has desirable handling characteristics and is an appropriate alternative to taking the patient’s own bone for many of my spinal procedures,” says Kennedy Yalamanchili of Christiana Care Hospital in Newark, USA, which is one of several sites that has recently used ViviGen. DePuy Synthes Spine and DePuy Synthes Biomaterials, divisions of DePuy Orthopaedics, have an exclusive worldwide agreement to market and promote ViviGen, which was developed by LifeNet Health, a world leader in allograft bio-implants and cellular therapies. 

“Cellular allografts represent an exciting and fast growing new category within the bone graft substitute market,” comments Max Reinhardt, president of DePuy Synthes Spine. ViviGen will be fully released in the USA in January 2015.

 

The company also announced the introduction of SYNAPSE advanced enhancements, a collection of new implants and instruments for the SYNAPSE platform, which is used for posterior stabilisation of the upper spine.