Medtronic Unit Licenses Paralysis-Prevention Technology from Purdue

Could preventing permanent spinal cord damage be as simple as injecting a patient with a specialized inorganic liquid polymer shortly following trauma?

Purdue’s Borgens: A molecular Band-Aid.

In a recently published study with dogs, rsearchers at the Purdue University Research Foundation (West Lafayette, IN) successfully demonstrated that an injection of polyethylene glycol (PEG) can prevent permanent spinal damage when administered within 72 hours of the injury.

Purdue’s Office of Technology Commercialization recently announced that it has licensed this patented technology to Medtronic Sofamor Danek (Memphis, TN), the spinal business unit of Medtronic Inc. (Minneapolis). Under the terms of the agreement, Medtronic Sofamor Danek gains exclusive commercial rights to further research and develop the use of polyethylene glycol to treat acute spinal cord injuries.

Commenting on the announcement, Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president and treasurer of the Purdue Research Foundation, said that “by licensing this technology to a subsidiary of Medtronic, we have a good chance of making this potential treatment method an integral part of emergency care. If PEG is shown to do for human spines what it has done for canines, no first-responder kit or hospital emergency room in America will be without it.”

In the United States alone, more than 250,000 people live with paralysis caused by spinal injury.

The technology was developed by professor Richard Borgens and Ruyi Shi. Borgens, director of the Center for Paralysis Research at Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine, sees the technology as “someday mitigating the devastating effects of paralysis caused by spinal injury, brain trauma, stroke, or peripheral nerve damage.”

In the reported study, 19 dogs between two and eight years of age were administered an injection of PEG within 72 hours of their injury. In addition, they received conventional veterinary treatment for spinal injury, which included injection of steroids, physical rehabilitation, swimming, and surgical removal of any bone chips remaining in the spinal area. The 19 dogs in the experimental group were compared with a control group of 24 dogs that received only the conventional treatment.

The researchers reported that 75% of the dogs treated with PEG were able to resume a normal life. And, according to Borgens, “some healed so well that they could go on as though nothing had happened.” Lab tests revealed that, even when the spine was initially damaged to the point of paralysis, PEG prevented the nerve cells from irrevocable rupture and enabled them to heal themselves. It is believed that PEG intervenes in this process by repairing the initial membrane damage.

By contrast, only 25% of the control group dogs regained their preinjury level of mobility, with about 62% remaining paraplegic.

It is not entirely understood how PEG works. Borgens believes it acts like a “molecular Band-Aid that forms a temporary seal over breaches in nerve cells in the spinal cord, aiding their healing process and preventing additional cell death.”

While the results are promising, Borgens is quick to note that providing this kind of treatment to humans is several years away. “There are significant differences between canine and human spinal cords that must be addressed before this treatment can be applied to people. In dogs, for example, some of the control of walking actually takes place in the spine, while in humans all of this control resides in our brains. Additionally, PEG cannot just be used off the shelf—it must have a high level of purity for it to be effective. This is very promising research, but it won’t be available at the hospital for some time.”

DeMane: Incredible potential

Medtronic has had a “longstanding focus on ground-breaking therapies for the treatment of spinal disorders,” commented Michael DeMane, senior corporate vice president and president of spinal, ENT, and surgical navigation technologies. “This technology has incredible potential to help patients who have few alternatives, so it is natural that we would support this pioneering research.”

According to a spokesperson for Medtronic Sofamor Danek, human clinical trials are at least two years away, with an additional three years expected for product commercialization.

Neither Medtronic nor Purdue’s Office of Technology Commercialization provided any information on the financial terms of the licensing deal.

Medtronic Sofamor Danek has annual sales of $1.75 billion—about 20% of Medtronic’s total revenue—and employs 1800 people worldwide, including 600 at its Memphis facility.

© 2005 Canon Communications LLC

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