Make No Bones About It

NZ has again opened a new path in medicine, this time in the field of bone reconstruction. Dr George Dias of Otago University’s anatomy and structural biology department struck on the idea of using a material based on keratin (the chief component of wool, hair and fingernails) to mend bone fractures and damage caused by tumours. The new substance is gradually absorbed by the body and promotes bone repair, as opposed to the old method of bone clips (taken from other parts of the body and thereby causing new complications) or synthetics such as titanium. Wool Equities (NZ) subsidiary Keratec has won the rights to the product from Otago University and is working towards commercializing it into sell to an international market estimated to be US$400m by 2007. Says Keratec Research Manager Dr Rob Kelly, “We’ve been able to do something no one has been able to do before.”