Development of Cortical Bone Mechanics Technology for Enhancing the Diagnosis of Osteoporosis

ABSTRACT This Phase IIB SBIR grant application proposes to continue development and commercialization of OsteoDx’s Cortical Bone Mechanics Technology™ (CBMT™), a novel osteoporosis related diagnostic device that non- invasively measures the mechanical properties of cortical bone and provides direct information about bone strength and quality that is not accessible by other diagnostic modalities. OsteoDx has already successfully illustrated commercial feasibility and demonstrated that CBMT can accurately and efficiently estimate ulna bone bending strength (R2=0.99). OsteoDx also established that CBMT is sensitive to detecting change in bone strength and provides information about cortical bone that is unique and independent of Bone Mineral Density (BMD), which suggests CBMT may yield clinically significant information about osteoporotic fracture potential. Osteoporosis is a common medical condition causing progressive weakening of bones, eventually leading to nontraumatic or fragility fractures. These fractures are painful and, in many cases, cause prolonged or life-long disability, and dramatically increases mortality rates up to 8x within 3 months post fracture. The Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation projects that by 2025, there will be 3 million osteoporosis related fractures every year in the US, resulting in healthcare costs of more than $57 billion. Numerous treatments with varying mechanisms of action exist for osteoporosis and, if given to high-risk individuals, could dramatically reduce the risk of fracture. However, current osteoporosis treatment decisions are heavily driven by X-ray based measurements of BMD and risk surveys. Unfortunately, these tools lack sufficient discriminatory sensitivity and accuracy to identify many individuals at high risk of experiencing a fragility fracture. For instance, <50% of the variation in whole-bone strength is attributable to variations in BMD, and the vast majority of patients who sustain fragility fractures do not have low BMD (i.e., they have T-score’s above −2.5). Thus, there is a large unmet need to better diagnose patients who are at risk of fracture, so that physicians can accurately identify individuals who would benefit from osteoporosis medications and to better monitor the effectiveness of treatment. OsteoDx’s market research, interviews with key opinion leaders, and prior meetings with the FDA have identified the most important and immediate commercialization milestones necessary for FDA approval and market adoption: a study that demonstrates the accuracy (aim 1) and clinical precision (aim 2) of the final design production version of the medical device, and advances safety and regulatory compliance (aim 3). Thus, in this Phase II application we propose a series of experiments, tests, and approaches to accomplish the above-mentioned aims. Upon successful achievement of these aims, OsteoDx will be positioned to submit a Class II de novo medical device application to the FDA for noninvasively quantifying flexural rigidity of cortical bone in the ulna. To achieve the aims of this proposal and the other commercialization objectives of OsteoDx, the company has assembled a highly seasoned team with broad experience and expertise.