Materia Medica Malaysiana

SIRIM scientists score breakthrough

It now takes just 36 hours to produce carbonated apatite, a synthetic bone graft used to treat broken bones.
This invention was unveiled by Advanced Materials Research Centre (AMREC), one of Sirim’s research centres, at the 16th Invention, Innovation, Industrial Designs & Technology exhibition (ITEX 05), being held at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).
The conventional method requires two weeks to produce the material.
Dr Fadzil Ayad Zakaria, K. Jamuna Thevi, Siti Hana Abu Bakar, Zul Hazmi Hussin, Shamsul Muhamad and Dr Jose Mikan, the brains behind the invention, spent two years at their laboratory in Kulim, Kedah, to develop the processing technique.
The process, which involves dry mixing of raw powder to obtain homogenous mixture and later pressed and sintered in controlled atmosphere, would reduce the cost of producing it significantly.
Fadzil, the team leader, said the new technique would eliminate the tedious and time-consuming preparation used to produce bone graft.
“We are planning to market our product once we complete the research programme,” added Fadzil.
The market for bone graft is huge, especially in the United States. Figures showed that in 1988, the market in the United States exceeded US$460 million (RM1.75 billion).
In 2001, more than 285,000 bone graft procedures for spinal fusion were performed in the United States and six million long bones were treated for fractures.
The project was conducted in collaboration with Institute for Medical Research and Universidad Militar Nueve Granada.