DePuy Synthes Products today announced that it is acquiring 3-D printing technology from Tissue Regeneration Systems (TRS).

The TRS methods will let DePuy Synthes create “patient-specific, bioresorbable implants with a unique mineral coating intended to support bone healing in patients with orthopedic and craniomaxillofacial deformities and injuries,” the company said in a statement.

Financial terms were not disclosed by DePuy, part of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies.


"We are systematically investing in building a pipeline of 3-D-printed products," said DePuy Synthes Company Group Chairman Ciro Römer, elaborating on the latest acquisition. "The TRS technology, which will be added to the DePuy Synthes Trauma Platform, is the latest example of how we are working toward developing next-generation technologies that transform health-care delivery with individualized solutions for patients."

This builds on DePuy Synthes' leadership in trauma, he added.

The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies now has over 50 collaborations aimed at “harnessing 3-D printing technology to develop patient-specific health care solutions,” according to the company statement.

The two firms started their collaboration in 2014 via Johnson & Johnson Innovation, which invests across the medical device, consumer health care, and pharmaceutical sectors.

"The acquisition of the TRS technology by DePuy Synthes is testament to our ability to identify and work collaboratively with promising early-stage companies and entrepreneurs to accelerate bringing innovative new products to market," said Robert G. Urban, Ph.D., global head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation. "We are excited at the potential this technology holds to help improve patient outcomes."

Based in Plymouth, Michigan, TRS began in 2008 and focuses on commercializing research done at the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin in skeletal reconstruction and bone regeneration.

Other researchers have also been developing 3-D printing approaches to surgical repair, such as a team from Mayo Clinic, who reported in February on their results creating a 3-D-printed bioabsorbable scaffold that can reconstruct ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments in the knee and deliver a protein that promotes bone regeneration. Those scaffolds were created with the use of 3-D laser stereolithography printing.

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