South Korean company U&I created a degraded safe material after thousands attempts for the past nine years. “K-MET” is a metallic bio-absorbable screw metal from U&I that is permitted by the Korea Food & Drug Administration. It is a binding screw to fix broken bone, made of magnesium and calcium and it is the first ever product. The existing metal screw has to be removed by tearing surgical site after a while, but once K-MET is inserted into the bones, it knits the bones and degrades in one to two years. That is to say, there is no second surgical operation necessary. It is not virtual reality; it has been processed through animal testing for 5 years, and human testing for two years.
K-MET is a great output that U&I devoted their best efforts into creating a bio-absorbable product for nine years since 1997. K-MET has to have as much mechanical strength as the bones. The degrading period after it is inserted into the body is also very important. If it degrades too fast, the bone will not be knitted and the patients can potentially get huge damage. It is also important to not have it become a hazard to the human body. K-MET is the complete result that went through thousands of tests to find the greatest proportion of magnesium and calcium to meet all these requirements. $13 million costs of investments were made for the tests by the best medical team in Korea. U&I’s CEO Ja-Kyu Koo stated there were many demands about biodegrades surgical screws for a long time. U&I have been doing business with huge equipment manufacturer Zimmer Holdings for many years.
Anyone can have the idea of degrading a screw into body, but the accomplishment has been succeeded as the name of K-MET, which the name was created as a compound of both Korea and Metal. Availability of biodegradability has value for practical use of fixing knee ligaments, ligamentopexis, fixing a screw for shoulder ligaments and plastic surgical implants. The possible potential market is anticipated to be worth $40 billion.
1 week after surgery 6months after surgery 12 months after surgery
Left: X-ray image of 6 months after surgery
Right: X-ray image of 12 months after surgery
Sam Kim
K-Herald Korea (LA times Supplement)
