RTI Biologics Donates Allograft Implants for Children with Physical Disabilities in Kijabe, Kenya

12/16/2009

• Wendy Crites Wacker, APR
• Director, Corp Communications
• wwacker@rtix.com
• 386-418-8888 (4220)

ALACHUA, Fla.—(BUSINESS WIRE)— RTI Biologics Inc. (RTI) (Nasdaq: RTIX), the Florida-based processor of orthopedic, dental, hernia and other biologic implants, donated nearly 500 spinal allografts to AIC-CURE International Children’s Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya this week.

The allograft implants will be used for spinal fusions to treat congenital spinal deformities, limb defects and vertebral reconstruction for tuberculosis infection in Kenyan children. Without surgical reconstruction, spines affected by tuberculosis often collapse and paralyze those affected. In addition, limb defects and impediments make life difficult and limit opportunities for these children to grow and reach their full potential.

“This donation has allowed us to reach new heights of surgical reconstruction in Kenya,” said Timothy C. Mead, MD, medical director of CURE Kenya. “Without RTI’s support, our potential would not be as great and fewer children would have their lives transformed through successful surgery.”

AIC-CURE International Children’s Hospital has provided life-changing surgeries to more than 22,000 Kenyan children since 1998.

“Our mission at RTI is to improve lives through biologic solutions to achieve life-restoring and life-saving results,” said Brian K. Hutchison, chairman and CEO for RTI. “Through the generous gift of tissue donation, RTI is able to provide these allografts to children in need.”

Allograft is tissue surgically transplanted from one person to another. Most allograft tissue is recovered surgically after someone dies; the donor must have consented to the donation before death or the donor’s family must consent after death. Tissue transplantation can have many benefits for recipients including repairing tissue defects caused by trauma or disease, restoring mobility and regaining independence in daily activities.

Allografts are used as an alternative to synthetic and metal implants. However, unlike synthetic or metal implants, allografts are a natural and biocompatible scaffold, allowing the recipient’s body to remodel it into his or her own tissue over time. Using allograft tissue rather than an autograft – or tissue from one’s own body – eliminates a second surgical site, allowing the recipient to avoid additional pain, risk and a possible longer hospital stay.

RTI honors the gift of tissue donation by treating the tissue with respect, by finding new ways to use the tissue to help patients and by helping as many patients as possible from each donation.

About CURE International

Founded in 1996, CURE International is the largest provider of pediatric specialty surgical care in the developing world, transforming the lives of children with physical disabilities and their families through medical and spiritual healing. A nonprofit medical organization, CURE International specializes in the treatment of children with curable orthopedic and neurosurgical conditions. It also provides medical education and training programs to national medical professionals throughout the developing world. To date, it has performed more 70,000 surgeries and seen more than one million patients. Visit www.cureinternational.org for more information.

About RTI Biologics Inc.

RTI Biologics Inc. is a leading provider of sterile biological implants for surgeries around the world with a commitment to advancing science, safety and innovation. RTI prepares human donated tissue and bovine tissue for transplantation through extensive testing and screening, precision shaping and proprietary, validated sterilization processes. These allograft and xenograft implants are used in orthopedic, dental, hernia and other specialty surgeries.

RTI’s innovations continuously raise the bar of science and safety for biologics – from being the first company to offer precision-tooled bone implants and assembled technology to maximize each gift of donation, to inventing validated sterilization processes that include viral inactivation steps. Two such processes – the BioCleanse® Tissue Sterilization Process and the Tutoplast® Tissue Sterilization Process – have a combined record of more than two million implants distributed with zero incidence of allograft-associated infection. These processes have been validated by tissue type to penetrate tissue, inactivate or remove viruses and a wide range of organisms using worst-case testing and maintain tissue biocompatibility and functionality.

RTI’s worldwide corporate headquarters are located in Alachua, Fla., with international locations in Neunkirchen, Germany, and Aix-en-Provence, France. The company is accredited in the U.S. by the American Association of Tissue Banks.