Bone glue - The final frontier for fracture repair and implantable device stabilization

The need for a bone adhesive is a challenge that has remained unmet. The concept of a “bone glue” to repair simple and comminuted fractures, as well as to glue orthopaedic devices in place, is considered a holy grail. Today such a product has been developed to satisfy the properties necessary for a bone adhesive. Its simple chemistry, which is free of cytotoxic or mutagenic effects, reacts in a wet environment and is composed of a multi-phasic mineral-organic biomaterial that forms robust and durable bonds directly to living bone and metallic implants. Over the course of healing, the glue undergoes both evolution and dissolution, allowing bone substitution preserving both the strength of the glue and its volume. In clinical practice, the glue offers the possibility of providing immediate and extended stabilization, eliminating the need for high mechanical bone compression as in press fit or threaded implants and may negate the need for bone plating of fractures.