Two South Africans have won an international prize for innovation for their work on using bone growth proteins taken from pigs to help repair damaged human bones and wasting diseases like osteoporosis.

Dr Nicolaas Duneas and Nuno Peres have won the R1.04m African Innovation Foundation (AIF)’s Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) 2014 for creating the first injectable porcine-derived bone matrix product (BMP) medical device in the world. According to the judges, osteoporosis (a disease that affects women in particular) is on the rise in Africa, as a result of changing diets over the last few years.

“Osteoporosis is on the rise in Africa, especially among African women, due to urbanization and a general lack of awareness, among other factors; figure-conscious females keep an increasingly watchful eye on their weight, impacting negatively on the density of their bones and increasing their risk of contracting bone diseases,” the judges said.

Dr Duneas and Peres were announced as the winners at an awards ceremony hosted by the African Innovation Foundation in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria in Abuja, Nigeria. They walked away with the grand prize of $100 000 (around R1.04 million).

The Altis Osteogenic Bone Matrix (Altis OBM) created by the South African team can also be used in treating bone injuries without using a regenerative biological implant. This also means that osteoporosis patients will no longer have to have bone tissue removed from their hips or have get it from deceased donors, because the OBM injection gives fast, safe and effective healing of bone injuries.

“We are delighted by this recognition, our team has managed the development of Altis OBM over the past 10 years from the initial idea to commercialisation, with the hope that the innovation will radically change the way orthopedic surgeons treat bone injuries. Winning the IPA gets us closer to that goal,” said Peres, who is the Chief Executive of Business Development of Altis OBM.

[Image – IPA]