- Tampere seizes creative economy

Bioabsorbable implants that release
antibiotics and accelerate bone growth
open up new treatment possibilities.
Chief Scientifi c Offi cer of Bioretec
Oy Pertti Törmälä believes that his
company will be the fi rst in the world
to bring onto the market antibiotic-releasing
implants that degrade in the body. This will
continue the pioneering work in biomaterials
in Tampere: the world’s fi rst bioabsorbable
implants were also made in Tampere, based
on innovations by Törmälä’s research group.
Bioretec’s bioabsorbable antibiotic
implants will enter the market in a couple
of years. Pertti Törmälä says that they will
decisively improve the treatment of severe
bone infections, for example, and they can
also avert infection risk in the treatment of
bone fractures. Antibiotic implants provide
a means to supply an effective antibiotic
concentration to bone surfaces and joints.
Bioretec is a spin-off of the Tamperebased
company Linvatec Biomaterials,
emerging when research projects related to
the use of drugs were separated from Linvatec.
Bioretec manufactures new-generation
bioabsorbable implants that are bioactive
and multifunctional. The implants contain
drugs and bioactive substances, among others.
Examples of products under development by
the company are several implants containing
bioactive glass that accelerates bone growth.
The fi rst products of this kind are intended
for spinal surgery, such as treatment for
discogenic damage. A bioabsorbable implant
helps ossify a vertebral gap in the spine in the
desired manner.
“It is possible to strive towards a more
effi cient treatment of bone fractures, too. For
instance, the next step in the development of
bone screws and nails used in bone fractures
may be that an osteoconductive substance
is added to them to accelerate the fracture’s
ossifi cation.”
Pioneering work
Pertti Törmälä has been studying biomaterials
since the 1980s and can be considered the
father of Finnish success in biomaterials.
Under his leadership, the Institute of
Biomaterials at Tampere University of
Technology has developed into one of the
world’s foremost research units in its fi eld, and
several companies have emerged in Tampere
due to its innovations.
“When word spread about our good
research results in the mid-1980s, a large
company manufacturing surgical steel screws
contacted us and told us that it wasn’t
worthwhile continuing any longer. Their
engineers had studied the materials and
found them unacceptable. Yet today the
same company is itself also engaged in the
manufacture of bioabsorbable implants,”
Törmälä says.
The pioneering work in biomaterials took
a lot of hard trailblazing, and it took years
for the researchers in Tampere to convince
surgeons of the functionality of the repair
parts used to treat bone fractures. The bone
nails and screws made from bioabsorbable
polymers were designed to last a couple of
months to support a bone fracture, afterwards
dissolving into the body. Surgical operations
are reduced in number when the material
intended to support the bone doesn’t require
surgical removal.
“Pointing ideas in the right direction”
“We were always asked how it was possible
that a small company from Tampere, Bionx
Implants, today Linvatec Biomaterials, could
succeed where international pharmaceutical
giants with turnovers in the tens of billions
had met with failure.”
“Our success was founded on technical
innovation and a novel combination of
competences. Billions were not needed; we
had suffi cient basic resources and we were able
to steer ideas in the right direction.”
The use of bioabsorbable implants became
increasingly common in the 1990s and new
companies emerged in the fi eld. The meniscus
arrow developed by Bionx Implants, which
signifi cantly enhanced the surgical treatment
of ruptured menisci, is perceived to have been
the breakthrough for the entire industry.
Today, bioabsorbable implants are an
established practice of treatment in areas such
as facial and cranial surgery, orthopaedics,
traumatology and sports medicine.
At Tampere University of Technology’s
Institute of Biomaterials, Researcher
Minna Veiranto is the head researcher in a
project developing an antibiotic-releasing
bioabsorbable implant. At Bioretec Oy, the
development of implants that release drugs
and bioactive substances is the responsibility
of R&D Manager Harri Heino (right) and
Chief Scientific Officer Pertti Törmälä.
BIOABSORBABLE
HEALER
on its way
Tampere Business • Science • Life 21