DEKRA, Health Canada clear ORTHOCON's new Absorbable Bone Hemostat Matrix

ORTHOCON, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic device company, today announced that DEKRA and Health Canada have cleared its HEMASORB Absorbable Bone Hemostat Matrix for clinical use and sale in Europe and Canada.

HEMASORB is a ready-to-use, biocompatible, water resistant, and absorbable putty designed to rapidly stop bleeding when applied to damaged or cut bone. Control of bleeding from cut bone is a problem in many operative procedures including spine, orthopedic, cardiac, and craniomaxillofacial surgeries. Excessive bleeding during surgery may impair the surgeon's view of the operative field, may result in the need for blood transfusions, and may be associated with post-operative complications. ORTHOCON estimates that over 3.5 million patients undergoing surgeries in the United States, Europe, and Canada each year could benefit from the intra-operative use of HEMASORB.

"We are pleased that HEMASORB has been cleared for clinical use and sale in Europe and Canada," said John J. Pacifico, President and Chief Executive Officer of ORTHOCON. "We are confident HEMASORB will provide surgeons in Europe and Canada with an innovative and cost-effective tool to assist in their management of intra-operative bone bleeding, and we fully expect HEMASORB to become the standard of care for bone hemostasis."

HEMASORB, previously cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) via the 510(k) premarket notification process, was first introduced in the U.S. in 2010. The product has been approved for sale at leading hospitals throughout the United States and is used successfully by hundreds of surgeons. ORTHOCON will continue to focus its efforts on increasing adoption of HEMASORB in the U.S. and is actively pursuing product distribution partnerships in Europe and Canada to ensure HEMASORB becomes widely available to surgical patients in these markets.