Wright Medical Group Inc. (NSDQ:WMGI), Philips Healthcare (NYSE:PHG) and Carestream Health Inc. won a grant and two contracts from various branches of the federal government worth a collective $22.4 million.
The U.S. Dept. of Defense awarded a $2.4 million grant to Wright Medical for a clinical study of its pellet-based bone graft substitute for combat-related open fracture wounds.
OsteoSet T is a new version of company’s Food & Drug Administration-cleared OsteoSet surgical grade calcium sulfate bone graft substitute that is impregnated with the antibiotic tobramycin sulfate.
"Given the traumatic nature of combat-related open fracture wounds, a treatment is needed to reduce infection rate and simultaneously serve as a bone void filler," said Wright Medical scientific communications manager and grant author Jason Drenning in prepared remarks.
The Arlington, Tenn.-based orthopedic device maker designed the new bone graft substitute to release antibiotic at a predictable rate while acting as a resorbable scaffold for new bone, according to the company.
Wright medical applied for the clinical study to fall under the FDA’s investigational device exemption program. Pending acceptance the study would enroll members of the U.S. military who have suffered combat-related open fractures. If the study is successful, Wright Medical plans to submit a pre-market application for OsteoSet T.
And Bothell, Wash.-based Philips Healthcare and Rochester, N.Y.-based Carestream each landed a $10 million contract with the Defense Logistics Agency for DIN PACs — digital imaging network picture archiving and communications systems.
Last month the agency inked similar deals with Ridgefield Park, N.J.-based Agfa Healthcare ($45 million) and Stamford, Conn.-based Fuji Medical Systems USA ($9 million).
The deals call for the companies to provide the systems, used to make medical imaging studies portable, to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies.