Grant awarded to develop alternative methods of tendon repair

Grant awarded to develop alternative methods of tendon repair

Tendon injuries have become increasingly common as more people are participating in recreational sports. Repairing the tendon often requires surgery that can doesn’t always produce the anticipated results. The biggest challenge the surgeon faces when repairing a ruptured tendon is that the surgery can fail when sutures pull through the tendon instead of holding it together. Nerites Corporation, a Madison, WI based company, was recently awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop alternative methods of tendon repair using bio-adhesive technology.
Dr. Joel Smith, an Orthopedic Surgeon and consultant to Nerites, stated: “There is significant need for improvements on current tendon repair techniques. The technology that Nerites is developing has great potential and will represent a substantial advance in treatment using medical devices.”
“Tendon repair can be a vexing problem for orthopedic surgeons,” stated Nerites CEO Thomas Mozer. “We hope to give them a better solution than sutures. Our synthetic adhesives can be tailored to meet the demands of many different types of surgeries, and so we are applying them to areas where we see the greatest medical need.”
The company was founded in 2004 to commercialize a new generation of synthetic biomaterials that can enhance natural tissue repair, reduce complications from traditional devices, and degrade safely when they are no longer needed.