Author: Jane Griffin

Ossium in the News

After we reported the first transplant with Ossium’s organ donor bone marrow, several news outlets published stories on this milestone and what it means for the future of stem cell accessibility. Across an array of national, local, and medical news sources, medical experts and journalists chimed in about the significance of this development, calling it a “game changer” (WIRED) and a “historic step forward” (ClickOnDetroit) for the field of stem cell transplantation. 

Links to the stories are below.

National News

WIRED | Bone Marrow Donors Can Be Hard to Find. One Company is Turning to Cadavers

Fox News | Leukemia Patient Receives First-Ever Bone Marrow Transplant from Deceased Organ Donor

Forbes | The Prototype: This Startup Aims to Expand Bone Marrow Availability

The Hustle Daily Show | This Bone Marrow Bank Startup Could Save Lives

Telemundo | Una Mujer es la Primera En Recibir un Trasplante De Médula Ósea de un Paciente Fallecido

Local News (Detroit)

ClickOnDetroit | Michigan Woman One of First in World To Successfully Receive Bone Marrow from Deceased Donor

Detroit Free Press | Flint Woman with Leukemia May Be 1st to get Stem Cell Transplant from Deceased Donor

Kalamazoo Mornings With Ken Lanphear | Gift of Life Michigan President Talks About her Organization’s Role in a Historic Medical Procedure

Medical News

Clinical Trials Arena | Ossium Treats First Leukaemia Patient in Cryopreserved Bone Marrow Trial

Becker’s Hospital Review | Henry Ford Health Patient Among 1st in World to Receive Deceased Donor Bone Marrow Transplant

Ossium Ranks No. 56 on Fast Company’s 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators

Fast Company announced its sixth annual Best Workplaces for Innovators list, honoring organizations and businesses that demonstrate an inspiring commitment to encourage and develop innovation at all levels. Ossium came in at No. 56 for its company culture that encourages innovation from every corner of the organization. In addition, Ossium is a finalist on the biotech list.

“We pride ourselves in serving as a top workplace for innovators,” said Kevin Caldwell, Ossium’s CEO, Co-Founder & President. “Our business is built on the revolutionary idea of building a vast bone marrow bank that solves a critical infrastructure problem to save thousands of lives. We’ve taken daring steps to turn this bold idea into a reality. As we scale, we continue to benefit from our organizational culture that empowers employees to blaze new trails to help advance our mission.”

The 2024 Best Workplaces for Innovators list ranks 100 winners from a variety of industries, including entertainment, biotech, consumer packaged goods, marketing, education, healthcare, and many more.
“Innovation is a global priority that cuts across all industries, and this year’s list reflects that diversity,” said Brendan Vaughan, editor in chief of Fast Company. “The top ten features four companies headquartered outside of the U.S. and includes representatives from technology, advertising, finance, biotech, pharmaceuticals, ecommerce, and the nonprofit sectors.”

Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators issue (Fall 2024) is available online now, and the print issue will be on newsstands beginning September 17, 2024. To see the complete list, go to https://www.fastcompany.com/best-workplaces-for-innovators/list.

Ossium is currently searching for innovators to fill open roles at its headquarters in San Francisco and its production facility in Indianapolis. To learn more about these open positions, visit https://ossiumhealth.com/careers/.

First Surgery with OssiGraft Prime Highlights its Exceptional Utility

Our next-generation viable bone matrix, OssiGraft Prime™, has been released and used in surgery for the first time.

OssiGraft Prime builds upon the success of Ossium’s established OssiGraft™ and incorporates innovative processing advancements. The result is a more cohesive product with a gum-like consistency precisely engineered to meet the demands of orthopedic and spine surgeons. The product’s optimized handling properties enable surgeons to precisely sculpt and apply the graft in the intended location with unprecedented precision and efficiency.

“OssiGraft Prime is by far the best product on the market. I actually said ‘wow!’ out loud in the OR when I handled it in surgery for the first time,” said Dr. Jason Piraino, a leader and educator in foot & ankle surgery. “This product exceeded my expectations. It’s moldable and stays exactly where you want it, which makes it ideal for minimally invasive surgery.”

The first surgery with OssiGraft Prime, an arthroscopic ankle fusion, required the graft to be precisely shaped and placed through a narrow incision, demonstrating the product’s unique value. Surgeons working with OssiGraft Prime benefit from its ability to consistently fill odd-shaped gaps and tight spaces, allowing them to push the boundaries of possibility in orthopedic procedures.

Read the full press release here.

Ossium featured in NYSE Floor Talk

Ossium CEO Kevin Caldwell recently visited the NYSE and was interviewed on the trading floor.

In Kevin’s conversation with the NYSE’s Judy Shaw, they discussed unmet needs and inequities in the current system for finding bone marrow donors and how Ossium is solving those problems by transforming the process for bone marrow donor acquisition. As Kevin summarizes, “the basic idea is to take these cell therapies that today are both very slow and consequently also very expensive and turn them into a scalable procedure that could ultimately benefit tens of thousands of patients around the world every year.”

The interview wraps up with a discussion of the potential for Ossium to utilize its unique bone marrow banking platform to improve treatments in other fields of medicine.

Check out the full interview below.

Ossium Launches HOPE Program

Ossium recently introduced a new program that further expands access to Ossium’s bone marrow to patients around the globe. Through the HOPE (HPC Offered for PRESERVE Expansion) Program, patients that need an allogeneic bone marrow transplant but cannot participate in Ossium’s active clinical study (PRESERVE I) have a new opportunity to receive bone marrow from Ossium’s bank.

The goal of Ossium’s PRESERVE trials is to establish organ donor bone marrow as a new source of stem cells for hematologic reconstitution and unlock access to stem cell transplants for the thousands of patients who search unsuccessfully for a donor each year. Ossium launched the HOPE Program after recognizing the sheer volume of patients that need a bone marrow transplant but are unable to participate in the PRESERVE I study due to its eligibility criteria or the patient’s geography.

“Thousands of patients in the US and tens of thousands abroad desperately need a bone marrow transplant but can’t find a donor,” said Kevin Caldwell, Ossium’s CEO, Co-Founder & President. “The HOPE Program is intended to fill that gap.”

For more details, read the press release.

Ossium Health Named to Forbes’ List of America’s Best Startup Employers

We’re proud to announce that we’ve been named to Forbes’ prestigious list of America’s Best Startup Employers! This recognition places us among the top 500 U.S. startups based on employee satisfaction, reputation, and company growth.

This award reflects our dedication to fostering a work environment that attracts and retains exceptional talent. Ossium employees are driven by the profound impact our work has on individuals battling life-threatening blood and immune diseases. Our team’s unwavering dedication fuels our progress towards our company mission: improving the health, vitality, and longevity of human beings through bioengineering.

See Ossium’s appearance on Forbes’ list of America’s Best Startup Employers here.

Lauren Barnes Joins Ossium Health’s Board of Directors

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve elected Lauren Barnes to our Board of Directors. Barnes is a leading expert in healthcare product commercialization, pricing, reimbursement, market access, and managed markets for products spanning various market segments. This addition significantly bolsters our capacity to drive growth and deliver life-changing solutions for patients suffering from hematologic diseases, organ transplant rejection, and musculoskeletal defects.

“We’re delighted to welcome Lauren as the newest addition to the Ossium Board,” said Kevin Caldwell, Ossium’s CEO, Co-Founder & President. “Lauren brings a fresh perspective to our shared passion for advancing the health, vitality, and longevity of human beings. I’m confident that her valuable insights and expertise will meaningfully help Ossium as the company continues to grow and positively impact more patients.”

Barnes’ appointment underscores our dedication to assembling a world-class Board of Directors equipped with diverse perspectives and proven expertise. Her expertise in commercialization and market access strategy at biopharmaceutical companies in various stages of development complements the expertise of the incumbent board members and will further propel us toward our goals.

Read the press release here.

Lauren Barnes is Ossium’s newest board member

Ossium Presents at Meeting on the Mesa

At our second appearance at the Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, hosted by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, Ossium CEO Kevin Caldwell presented an update on our work over the past year and outlined our vision for the future of bone marrow transplantation. 

In the presentation, Kevin explained how we’re transforming the bone marrow donation process from a service into a product. With our bone marrow bank, patients have access to a high-quality, optimally-dosed, and fully-characterized graft, eliminating the months-long wait and uncertainty associated with searching for an unrelated living donor. Our vision is to enhance the existing bone marrow registry, enabling physicians to quickly search for a matched donor in a single, comprehensive registry. Ossium’s unique advantage allows physicians to expedite patients’ treatment by immediately ordering the graft once a matched donor is found. This reimagined system allows transplants to be performed in a matter of days instead of months, improving outcomes for patients whose conditions require immediate treatment.

Kevin also provided a brief update on our GVHD study and how it fits into Ossium’s goals: “Our goal is to increase the number of procedures that can be done by making them fundamentally safer.” He described how this complements Ossium’s efforts “to increase the speed, efficiency, and quality with which [bone marrow transplants] can be done by making the bone marrow itself far easier to get.”

Lastly, Kevin introduced our newest product, OssiGraft™, a viable bone matrix allograft. He explained how working with tissue from donors that have already been screened to meet organ donation and bone marrow donation requirements results in the highest quality bone graft on the market today.

Watch the full presentation below.