An Arkansas company that focuses on bone regeneration technology has landed a $2.8 million contract to develop automated production of bone void filler scaffold products.
NuShores Biosciences LLC received the contract from the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, a group associated with the U.S. Army Medical Research Command, to develop production of the NuCress bone void filler scaffold products. This contract is a three-year project in which NuShores will collaborate with MiQ Partners of Cincinnati, Ohio and the University of Arkansas at little Rock.
According to the company website, NuCress scaffold technology is designed to be used to promote healing of large segmental bone breaks.
“This project will enable NuShores to compete globally in pricing and performance and to accelerate the maturity of emerging products in our pipeline,” NuShores manufacturing manager Mark Pelo said in a statement.
NuShores CEO Sharon Ballard will head up the project with Pelo playing a supporting role. At MiQ, chief technology officer Harry Westerkamp and vice president Martin Bouliane will provide automation experience as NuShores develops the processes to produce its NuCress products with a “factory in a box” concept.
“This new contract will enable us to develop an intelligent, hands-free factory in a box with features such as real-time situational awareness that anticipates failures or production challenges before they cause waste. Our factory in a box concept will reduce human error to increase quality and meet regulatory standards,” Ballard said.
According to NuShores research scientist Karrer Alghazali, the contact will enable the company to standardize its processes, moving to an automated process to positively impact its product pipeline.
NuShores, founded in 2014, is a spinout company from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and holds the exclusive license to commercialize the university’s NuCress scaffold technologies, both patented and patent-pending. This contract marks the second major announcement NuShores has made recently, with the establishment of a medical device clean manufacturing facility.
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