Artimplant’s rotator cuff device to be launched at AAOS

Sportmesh™ Tissue Reinforcement, made of Artelon®, is launched globally by Arthrotek, a Biomet company, at the AAOS meeting in Chicago this week. Sportmesh™ is a patch designed to be used in surgery to strengthen the repair of injured rotator cuff in the shoulder. Causes of the injury may include every day activities such as lifting or reaching. The injury is also common among active people and people with physically demanding jobs. More than 300,000 surgical procedures are performed annually in the United States only.

Sportmesh™ is the first synthetic patch to the market for this indication. The most commonly used materials today are based on collagen derived from animals such as porcine and bovine. Sportmesh™ is Artimplant’s second product after the Artelon® Spacer CMC-I for thumb base osteoarthritis to be marketed in the United States. The product is licensed to Biomet and is expected to increase Artimplant’s revenues. ”Sportmesh™ will considerably increase our presence on the market, and will be important for the positioning of Artelon® as a biomaterial,” says Artimplant CEO Tord Lendau. Artelon® - a unique biomaterial Sportmesh™ is made of Artelon®, a unique long-term degradable biomaterial that acts as a temporary scaffold to facilitate formation of new host tissue. Due to its versatility and unique combination of properties - long-term degradation, mechanical properties similar to human tendons and excellent biocompatibility in hard and soft tissue – Artelon® offers new solutions to unmet clinical needs in several therapy areas.