Something remarkable is happening in a rather nondescript building in Wyandotte County just blocks from the campus of University of Kansas Medical Center.

OsteoGeneX is growing bone, and with few, if any, negative side effects — a rarity in the quest to stop osteoporosis and related bone disorders. The KBA is partnering with the company for the continued development of this new therapeutic approach that uses a cement-like substance that causes bone to be created at the local level within the body.

While working with fellow scientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Dr. Debra Ellies, president and founder of OsteoGeneX, discovered the function of the protein sclerostin. She identified it as a bone density thermostat for controlling bone growth. Too much of this protein causes osteoporosis; too little of it and one ends up with high bone mass.

Sclerostin naturally occurs in the human body as an inhibitor. In laymen’s terms, when one inhibits the inhibitor, bone grows. This groundbreaking research is remarkable because other options in the marketplace or moving through clinical trials have rather dramatic side effects. Several do nothing but prevent bone loss, and none has the safety advantage that OsteoGeneX compounds have. An anticipated solution to this vexing problem is treating the bone-forming cell directly, which is why there is so much interest in the commercialization of the OsteoGeneX technology.

Once the company completes its preclinical trials for this osteoporosis solution, it plans to sell it to a larger firm and then take those proceeds and apply them to a much larger market — spinal fusion surgeries — which it believes will ultimately be four times as large as the market for osteoporosis treatment. KBA funding and National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research grants have allowed the company to apply for patents, which are the lifeblood for future product development.