We have established as a technology transfer venture company by AIST in 2017, aiming to develop bioabsorbable therapeutic equipment.
Medical products or therapeutic equipment are required to be approved by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, however, its process have never be easy. Especially, therapeutic equipment with bioabsorbable function are required exceedingly high safety and effectiveness.
Since our magnesium alloy therapeutic equipment is the first therapeutic device in Japan, so we could easily imagine to be required a very high standard of safety. So, we have started from developing the bone fixation screws, from the scratch, which is relatively easier to be adjusting to defects. Consequently, we took a huge step to produce our very first screw with approval as therapeutic equipment without clinical trials.
We are currently taking next step to develop absorbable staples to install body tissue fixation to be natural suturing. Recently automatic suturers are widely used in surgical operations, especially in laparoscopic surgery, but the attached staples are made of titanium alloy and remain in the body for life, even though there’re some reports of side effects caused by permanent accidental image inside the body. This is why we have decided to approached to develop absorbable staples which can possible be with no side effect.
We are also working on developing a bone fixation plate system with the knowledge we have gained throughout the process of developing bone fixation screw. Our focus is on developing strong magnesium alloy bone fixation plate system, since we are expected to have bone fixation plate system with bioabsorbable functions in Orthopedic surgery.
We think development in therapeutic equipment in Japan, has falling behind compared to its overseas, in terms of the number of products and market capture rate. We believe that our medical devices have a great potential to go global with its Japan original material and process technology.
We are strongly hoping to become a developing company in not only medics, but also in comprehensive medical department with the knowledge we have gained throughout the process of developing products.
Mel-Frontier, Ltd.
President & CEO
Akira Kitagawa, Ph.D.