A Medical Device Daily

Bone Biologics (Thousand Oaks, California) reported that it has received a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office notice of allowance of patent claims which protect a method of production for the UCB-1 (NELL-1) recombinant protein that Bone Biologics uses in the bone repair/regeneration technology in its lead product.

Bone Biologics has been developing the protein as a platform technology since 2004, leveraging the previous 10 years of research in the lab performed by the company's founding scientists at the University of California Los Angeles.

The mechanism of action is not only identified as to how it works, but why, through this research effort. The platform technology is combined with DBX demineralized bone matrix to promote bone growth in spinal fusion.

The platform technology will be subject to the FDA review and approval process, including clinical trials. It is not currently approved for use in humans.

The patent broadly protects the manufacturing method for the UCB-1 (NELL-1) protein. The UCB-1 (NELL-1) protein is currently used with a carrier (scaffold) of DBX demineralized bone matrix which is produced by the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF).

"The MTF is a world leader in tissue research and development, and has been both a financial and strategic partner to Bone Biologics over the past four years," said Bone Biologics CEO Bruce Hazuka.