Greenbone - leading innovation in bone regeneration
Lorenzo Pradella is the CEO and Founder of Greenbone, a medtech startup founded in 2014 in Faenza (Italy) that has entered the international market with an innovative bone implants solution derived from wood
Mission and impact of Greenbone
The innovative idea is starting from wood to repair bone defects and provide patients the opportunity to return faster to normal life with their own bone completely regenerated. Greenbone is the best solution to give patients with large bone damage caused by trauma, cancer and other bone diseases the possibility to continue the normal life. Rattan wood is one of the strongest, most flexible and lightweight trees in nature. What’s more, as CEO and founder of Greenbone Lorenzo Pradella noticed, its structure is surprisingly similar to bone.
“We take rattan and we shape it, according to the bone that we want to regenerate,” Pradella explains. “Then, we completely transform it, to achieve the same chemical composition as bone.”
The porosity of rattan is similar to bone structure in its 3D architecture, which allows homing of cells and enter the implant, recognise it as real bone matrix, and treat GreenBone 3D bone graft exactly like bone. It is progressively resorbed and replaced by newly formed bone with new vascularity in it.
The first clinical study in the pelvis was conducted at Leeds University, led by Professor Peter Giannoudis, and follow-up will finish by October 2021. Patients are progressing very well and safely, meaning that a promising future is expected for the technology. “Greenbone is confirming to a very promising solution to treat bone damaged patients,” Lorenzo says.
A patented healthcare spinoff
The research to discover the strongest regenerative material ever started in 2006, when the idea was conceived and developed by a research group at the Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics in Faenza (ISTEC-CNR), led by Dr. Anna Tampieri.
“In the early stages, in order to move forward, we needed to attract investors and partners, to allow Greenbone to be properly financed, and to support product commercialisation,” says Pradella.
GreenBone was founded in 2014 and closed a first seed round of investments for 3 million Euro from META Ventures, Italian Angels for Growth (IAG) and some private Italian and foreign investors in 2015, allowing the company to successfully complete a major pre-clinical study at a hospital in Assaf Harofeh (Israel) in collaboration with the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli of Bologna.
This led to second round of investment of 8,4 million euros in June 2017 - the second largest in Italy that year - to finance the completion of clinical studies in load-bearing long bones defects by 2019, obtain the regulatory European approval (CE mark) for Greenbone products, and launch the clinical development plan.
With the approval of the CE mark, GreenBone officially entered the market with a completely innovative product, which provides orthopedic surgeons and traumatologists with an alternative that can overcome the limits imposed by old generation bone substitutes.
On April 2021, Greenbone announced the closing of a €10 m Series B investment funding round led by existing shareholders – META, 3B Future Health Fund, Innogest SGR, CDP Venture Capital Sgr, Italian Angels for Growth and other private investors.
The new funding will be intended to expand the clinical use of the product also through new developments in further indications for use such as spinal and maxillofacial surgery. The funds will also be used for the construction of a new production line and for the market launch of the approved product. The site has been identified in Roncadelle – Brescia and the company is expected to enter into the manufacturing stage very soon.
GreenBone approaching Moto GP race
With the now-certain prospect of entering the international market, becoming official partner of Clinica Mobile is another big step for the company from Faenza.
For this season, GreenBone Ortho has partnered with the medical and physiotherapy group of the MotoGP and Superbike World Championship Clinica Mobile.
The partnership between Clinica Mobile and GreenBone Ortho stems from a convergence of innovative vision with regards to problems arising from traumas that seriously affect patients with a passion for motorsport. Clinica Mobile bases its “reason for being” on the need to support athletes during races, as motorcyclists and MotoGP or Superbike racing fans worldwide well know. Meanwhile, GreenBone has the objective of proposing solutions inspired by nature that help to deal with bone damage issues which are still difficult to solve.
Lorenzo Pradella, CEO of GreenBone Ortho, is fascinated about entering the world of motorsport. “The history of Clinica Mobile and its pioneering approach is a source of inspiration in the development of our company and in driving innovation in the orthopaedic trauma field towards unique therapeutic solutions that benefit patients,” he says.
Watch more here: Bones from Bamboo | Lorenzo Pradella | HYPERLINK