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Joni Morford, Communicore
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jmorford@communicore.com


ORQUEST RECEIVES GRANT TO INVESTIGATE POLYMER MATRICES FOR 
CARTILAGE REGENERATION


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE......November 19, 1996......Mountain View, Calif......In 
September, 1996, Orquest, Inc. received a $100,000 Small Business Innovation 
Research Grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Public 
Health Service, the company announced today.  The grant will support 
fundamental research in the development of polymer matrices for regeneration of 
articular cartilage, the smooth cartilage that lines the body's joints.

The long-term objective of the research to be performed under this grant is to 
develop a matrix material that supports the "in situ" repair of articular cartilage.  
Such a therapeutic product may reduce pain and allow patients with damaged or 
degraded cartilage to return to normal activities.

"Progress toward therapeutic products for articular cartilage regeneration has 
lagged far behind progress in other orthopedic applications," said Dr. Robert Spiro, 
Orquest's Director of Bone and Cartilage Research and Principal Investigator for the 
new research initiative.  "This grant will leverage the platform matrix technology 
Orquest is developing in the field of bone regeneration to advance our 
understanding of cartilage regeneration."

Despite years of basic and applied research, no consistently effective and approved 
product for articular cartilage grafting or regeneration exists.  Past approaches, such 
as transplantation of host cartilage and implantation of prosthetic devices, have been 
largely unsuccessful and only offer a temporary solution.  A more recent 
investigative approach involves culturing cartilage-forming cells outside the body 
(ex vivo) to generate grafting material.  This method, however, faces many 
manufacturing obstacles, and is expected to be very costly.

The successful development of a matrix for repair and regeneration of articular 
cartilage would have a major impact on orthopedic healthcare.  Orquest believes this 
matrix may find widespread acceptance in the treatment of traumatic and 
degenerative articular cartilage injuries based on the ease of use during arthroscopic 
surgery, the efficacy in stimulating cartilage tissue re-growth without ex vivo 
culturing, and the cost effectiveness of the production process.

More than one million people annually may benefit from replacement of cartilage 
damaged by injury or degenerative diseases, both of which can be extremely painful 
and even disabling.  Serious cartilage damage can also result in a life-long reduction 
in physical activities.

"Development of a minimally invasive product for regeneration of articular cartilage 
would have a major positive impact on millions of patients' quality of life," said Dr. 
James Poser, Orquest's Vice President of Research and Development.  "While 
development of a viable product is a long-term goal, the research initiated under 
this grant is an important, novel first step in the process."

Orquest, Inc., a private company based in Mountain View, Calif., was founded in 
1994 with the vision of developing and marketing bioengineered matrices that 
promote bone and cartilage regeneration in targeted applications.  Orquest 
currently has two orthopedic products in development:  Healos¨, a synthetic bone 
graft alternative, and Ossigelª, a matrix for accelerated fracture healing.


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