Biodegradable materials continue growing
Professor Pertti Törmälä has researched biodegradable materials for 30 years. He founded his first companies on his patented products already in the 1980s.Finnish expertise on biodegradable materials has been strongly centralized in Tampere. A consortium, which comprises several companies, research institutes and clinics, carries out research and development on biodegradable surgical materials with the input of hundreds of specialists.
- Even on a global scale, this is a significant consortium. Our network links specialists from all over the world. The market share of Finnish companies is 10-15 percent of all products in the sector. We have the readiness to maintain our position on the top of the development in the sector, Törmälä tells.
Already in his doctoral thesis in the 1970s Törmälä investigated the medical applications of plastic in blood bag materials. His position as an associate professor at the Materials De-partment of the Tampere University of Technology, and an interest on plastics in medical application, opened Törmälä doors to a great career.
- In 1976 Pentti Rokkanen, the Professor of Surgery at the University of Tampere, contacted me and suggested that we begin research on new materials, rather than continuing to use steel as a bone fracture fixation material. That’s how the development work began.
The first technical breakthrough was the development of extremely strong and resilient bio-degradable self-reinforced materials in the beginning of the 1980s. The first ankle fracture repaired with biodegradable pins took place at the Töölö Hospital in Helsinki in 1984. The results were published in the esteemed medical journal Lancet in 1985.
Potential for success
In 1985 Törmälä was in the process of establishing a company named Bioscience (which was later named as Bionx Implants), which produced innovative products that quickly gained a foothold in the United States. The company launched significant biodegradable products for the purposes of orthopedics, traumatology and craniofacial surgery. In 1997 the company was the first Finnish company ever to be listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market in New York.
Since there were buyers interested in the company, Bionx was sold to Conmed Linvatec in 2003. After Bionx, Törmälä founded Bioretec Oy, which in a few years’ time has already launched mechanically active pins, screws and tacks for fixing bone and cartilage fractures.
- The company is growing strongly. In 2009 our turnover was approximately half a million euro, and this year’s goal is to increase our turnover to 1.4 million euro, Törmälä discloses.
- Products that are successful on the global markets, are dexterous and safe to use. They save the surgeon’s time or solve some major practical surgical problem, and are still compe-titively priced.
www.bioretec.com
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