Orthofix International NV has entered into an agreement with Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials, Inc. (BAB) wherein Orthofix will market and distribute an FDA-cleared line of bone repair resorbable biomaterials engineered by BAB for trauma and reconstruction applications.

Under the agreement, Orthofix will market and sell this line of BAB resorbable biomaterials that will be packaged for Orthofix as granules, blocks, moldable putty and putty-injection kits. This line of osteoconductive bone scaffold biomaterials based on nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite technology is engineered to resorb quickly, thereby allowing bone to remodel rapidly, a company release stated.

The global orthopedic 'biomaterials' market is expected to be about $4.2 billion in 2005, increasing to approximately $5.4 billion in 2007 (source-Healthpoint Capital report, "Biomaterials: Creating Better Patient Outcomes, Driving Shareholder Wealth", August 2004). The US 'bone graft/bone substitutes' sector of the 'biomaterials' market was about $60 million in 2003 (source: Orthopaedic Network News, Vol. 14, No. 4, October 2003), which represented approximately 8 per cent of the total US biomaterials market (source: Orthopaedic Network News), an increase of 24 per cent in 2003 over the previous year (source: Knowledge Enterprises Report, November 2004).

Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials, Inc. (BAB) designs and manufactures high-quality, cost-effective skeletal repair resorbable biomaterials.