OsteoVantage’s first product in development is the OsteoHeal™ osteogenic spinal instrumentation.
A company working to develop bone-building technology to improve spinal treatments is the newest tenant to join Innovative Technology Enterprises, an incubator for startup companies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
OsteoVantage, Inc. is housed in a small office suite at ITE, and has two employees in St. Louis and an executive team in Fayetteville, Ark. In all, ITE now has seven tenants.
OsteoVantage was founded by Dr. Eric Leuthardt, Daniel Moran and Matthew MacEwan in partnership with Virtual Incubation Corporation. It has licensed key intellectual properties from Washington University in St. Louis centering around designing an implantable spinal instrumentation capable of accelerating local bone formation.
The all-important anchor for OsteoVantage’s unique spinal technology is a screw used in lower back fusion surgeries, which is designed to stimulate the body’s own bone-building machinery.
“The primary objective of OsteoVantage is to bring to market a unique line of orthopedic instrumentation capable of improving patient care,” MacEwan said. “We believe that this unique device will have a significantly positive impact for the large number of individuals experiencing chronic back pain and degenerative disk disease.”
OsteoVantage recently received a National Science Foundation Phase l Small Business Innovation Research grant of $150,000 to further develop this unique orthopedic technology. OsteoVantage has secured both office and laboratory space at ITE in order to accelerate further research and development of its first commercial medical device.
“With Matthew’s technical expertise and our facilities and support, OsteoVantage is on the fast-path to success,” said William Lemon, ITE director.
MacEwan is also the founder of Retectix, which is housed at ITE and specializes in the development of nanofabricated surgical materials.
Innovative Technology Enterprises at UMSL supports innovation in high-growth fields including information technology and life sciences, providing the physical, mentoring, business development and computational resources required for startup companies to grow.
Featuring wet and dry labs and a high-performance computing center staffed by onsite scientists, ITE provides the expertise to help startups in a variety of technical fields. It also solves fundamental research and business development issues, including those that require sophisticated computational resources. ITE is located at 4633 World Parkway Circle in North St. Louis County.
Media Coverage:
St. Louis Business Journal
