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Waltham-based startup Curative Biosciences Inc. is seeking to improve life for orthopedic patients with technologies that stimulate bone growth in a safe and relatively inexpensive way.
The company, founded last year, plans to develop an osteoconductive scaffold that can be injected into a patient’s skeletal target site. The scaffold will allow bone cells to attach to it and grow, said Patrick O’Donnell, Curative’s president and CEO. The company also intends to introduce a bone-stimulating peptide that will expedite the healing process within the scaffold. The peptide technology has been in-licensed from Canada-based Millennium Biologix Inc.
O’Donnell explained the bone-forming peptide technology will compete against market leader Medtronic Inc.’s Infuse product. However, he said, Curative’s offering will be safer than rival technologies, avoiding swelling in cervical spine (neck) injuries (which has allegedly happened in the off-label use of Infuse) or, potentially growing bone where it isn’t wanted. Also, existing bone treatments cost up to $5,000 per patient, while Curative’s therapy would cost far less for the same treatment, said O’Donnell.
The company was seed funded by Medical Capital Advisors LLP, an investment banking firm based in Waltham. Curative now wants to raise a Series A funding from “strategic, institutional and angel investors” to pay for research for its peptide and scaffold technologies, said O’Donnell. He didn’t offer a specific dollar amount, but with the proper infusion of cash, the first products can be available in the middle of 2011.
Initially, the company sees promise in treating spinal injuries, said Chris Velis, the head of Medical Capital Advisors and a Curative director. However, it can also be used for long bone fractures and in other applications. The market for its products is worth more than $1 billion, he estimated.
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