The Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) announced the issuance of US Patent No. 8,883,210, entitled "Tissue-derived tissuegenic implants and methods of fabricating and using same" that is related to allogeneic tissue grafts that contain a population of viable, endogenous tissue-forming cells.

This follows the recent issuance of US Patent No. 8,834,928 that has the same title and pertains to the processing of such grafts. These patents are associated with the Trinity Evolution® and Trinity ELITE grafts, which are cellular bone matrices that are processed by MTF and marketed for applications in orthopedic and spine surgery by Orthofix International N.V.

Bruce Stroever, President and CEO of MTF, commented, "These newly issued patents are a direct result of advances made by MTF in the science and art of allograft transplantation. Our partnership with Orthofix continues to yield innovations in spine and orthopedics and also opens broader restorative opportunities for allograft, especially in the area of allograft with viable cells. We are very pleased with these developments and will continue to pursue additional patents in this area that will further expand our portfolio."

Mark Spilker, MTF’s Executive Vice President of R&D, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs added, "MTF has consistently been a leader in placing new allograft technology in the hands of surgeons. The novelty of our viable, cell-based tissue forms lies in our ability to maintain the inherent properties of the allograft bone matrix and the viable cells contained within the matrix. We feel that this is a platform technology for MTF and look forward to developing more tissue forms based on these innovations in the future."

Trinity Evolution and Trinity ELITE are cryopreserved, allogeneic bone grafts that contain viable bone-forming cells and are intended to provide surgeons with a unique alternative to autograft, the standard for bone grafting.

To date, Trinity Evolution and Trinity ELITE have been used in over 100,000 surgical procedures nationwide. Trinity ELITE, which is the newest generation of this technology, offers an enhanced handling experience and greatly improved graft containment properties.