Pioneer Surgical Technology, which has a research facility in Greenville started with the help of $190,000 in funding from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in 1995, has received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its unique nanotechnology-based bone graft filler material for use by orthopaedic surgeons to streamline patient healing.
The Marquette, Michigan-based firm got the FDA's 510(k) clearance for its collagen-based product, trade named FortrOss, for use as a bone-void-filling scaffold to aid in regrowth of new bone and other connective tissues. FortrOss is designed to mimic the nanostructures -- including size, shape and chemistry-- of boney tissues that need healing after fractures or surgeries.
Pioneer entered North Carolina's orthobiologics scene in 2007 when it bought the small Greenville-based startup firm Encelle, which had developed the tissue regeneration scaffolding technology called E-Matrix. Encelle's start-up was aided by the Biotechnology Center.