BioMimetics' Data Impresses
BY DAVID KRESSEL, SEPTEMBER 19, 2006
Dr. William Giannobile, a professor of dentistry at the University of Michigan, presented new data on BioMimetics' only approved product, GEM21S, at the American Academy of Periodontology meeting in San Diego yesterday.
GEM21S is short for "Growth-factor Enhanced Matrix," a combination of tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). There were three arms of the study: TCP+Buffer, TCP+PDGF, and GEM21S. It isn't clear how GEM21S is different from TCP+PDGF (perhaps the difference is the concentration of PDGF or the TCP crystal size or shape?), and in fact, the study didn't focus on the statistical differences between those two arms, though eye-balling the data does suggest a difference between the TCP+PDGF and the GEM21S. The focus of the data was comparing the TCP+Buffer population to the GEM21S outcomes, and these were clearly positive. The study used 4 endpoints, two of which showed a statistical difference (p<.001) between the first and third arms (Radiographic Percent Bone Fill and Radiographic Linear Bone Fill). The other two endpoints, Average Pocket Depth Reduction and Clinical Attachment Level (CAL) Gain, seemed to fare best for the GEM21arm but were not statistically significant. Overall the data is quite impressive.
Someone must have thought BioMimetics had developed the next InFuse, as the stock was up over 25% intraday on the day of the presentation, but by the end of the trading day it had come back down, closing with a still solid 15% gain for the day. As is frequently the case, this innovation from dentistry is being translated to orthopedics by BioMimetics. In all seriousness, the GEM product line could very well provide legitimate competition to InFuse and allograft.
