The Company’s X-BOLT® innovative hip fracture device was also granted FDA 510k approval for marketing in the United States in Q4 2018.
Addressing the growing socio-economic problems of treating hip fractures in frail elderly patients, X-BOLT® is designed to revolutionise current surgical treatment and significantly reduce re-operation rates. Most clinical complications occur with anchorage in the osteoporotic bone and X-BOLT® offers an innovative mechanism that uses wings that expand in situ to offer a rotationally stronger and more secure femoral bone anchorage than traditional screw fixation. A stronger leg to stand on post-surgery allows for faster, fuller and more confident mobilisation of the patient.
Recruitment for WHITE4 commenced in June 2016 and involved 10 centres in UK, collaborating with the Orthopaedic Trauma Society (GB&I), including Oxford, Northumbria, Leicester, Newcastle, South Tees, Frimley Park, Wexham, Coventry, Bristol and Portsmouth. Results are expected to be available in June 2019. Patients were randomised at the time of surgery to receive either a gold standard sliding hip screw (SHS) device or X-BOLT®. Follow-up for all patients occurred at baseline, 4 months and one year following surgery.
Outcome measurements in WHITE4 include the EuroQol 5 Dimension Score (EQ-5D-5L), a validated measure of health-related quality of life, as well as patient mortality, residential status, revision surgery and radiographic measures. This study is a fully powered superiority study that may definitively show the X-BOLT® to be the new gold standard femoral head fixation in hip fracture fixation.
A 100-patient randomised pilot study published in 2016, known as ‘WHITE1’ at the University of Warwick showed a zero (0%) re-operation rate with the X-BOLT® device, versus a 6% reoperation rate with the traditional sliding hip screw (SHS) in unstable intertrochanteric hip fractures. Full results of WHITE1 are published in the Bone Joint Journal 2016; 98-B: 686-9.
Professor Xavier Griffin, the Chief Investigator of the WHITE 4 trial at Oxford Trauma, commented on the trial, “This is the largest randomised clinical trial in the field of hip fracture fixation and we are delighted to have hit this significant milestone. X-Bolt should be congratulated as an exemplar company for their commitment to working with us using the IDEAL framework in delivering this novel device to market. We look forward to communicating the full results of the trial in June 2019.”
Dr. Brian Thornes, CEO of X-BOLT Orthopaedics said, “Hip fractures in the very elderly are a growing unmet medical need with current surgical procedures resulting in poor outcomes that often result in a loss of mobility and independence in vulnerable group of patients. Hip fracture fixation has lacked any significant innovation since Sir John Charnley patented the sliding hip screw in 1955. We believe that the X-BOLT® device has the potential to transform fixation in patients suffering from osteoporosis and hip fractures, providing a significant improvement in mobility and quality of life.”
Approximately 1.6 million hip fractures occur worldwide each yearand due to an aging population, it is expected this number could reach 6 million by 2050.Each hip fracture episode costs approximately $40,000 (£30,000) in health and social costs. 70% of hip fractures occur in women with a median age of 81yrs. Loss of mobility and independence among hip fracture survivors is profound; less than 50% regaining their previous function and 33% being totally dependent or in a nursing home a year later. Reoperations occur in 6% of patients, resulting in additional costs of approximately $50,000 (£35,000). Reducing the re-operation rate provides a significant opportunity for hospitals and governments to greatly reduce 30-day readmissions and overall healthcare costs, notwithstanding the benefits to patients by improving their quality of life.
The X-BOLT® hip fracture nailing and plating systems were also recently granted FDA 510k approval in Q4 2018, having undergone rigorous mechanical and biocompatibility testing, along with interactions with the US Food and Drug Administration since 2013. This FDA approval now permits the marketing and commercialisation of the X-BOLT® in the United States.