Aastrom Biosciences Partners With Orthovita For Orthopedic Therapies

Aastrom Biosciences, a fairly well known stem cell research company from Michigan is announcing a partnership in preparation to move their adult stem cell technologies onto the marketplace.

Aastrom has announced an agreement with Pennsylvania based Orthovita Inc., which is a biomaterials company with the goal to jointly develop orthopedics products.

Aastrom has been researching means by which to utilize adult stem cells to regrow bone marrow cells so to help heal broken bones and grow cartilage.

Human clinical trials are still underway using Tissue Repair Cells, or TRCs. Additionally, Aastrom does not use embryonic stem cells it its studies, making them these days, more or less controversy free.

The goal of this parternship is to use Orthovita's synthetic and porous materials as a protective framework to grow the Aastrom TRCs. The hope is that by combining the companies' two products, badly fractured bones can be healed without bone graft operations.