MENLO
PARK, Calif., May 3, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Saturday will be the running of
the 150th consecutive Kentucky Derby.
One year ago, 12 horses died just before and after, sparking
outrage in the press:
https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=Kentucky+derby+horse+deaths
Why is it that human athletes can be healed for a fractured
leg, but equine athletes are often times "euthanized"?
Obviously, no veterinarian wants to kill a horse for a fractured
leg! But these outcomes are fueling the fire for Animal Rights
groups to end horse racing.
Horses, however, have a unique anatomy and that makes it very
challenging if not impossible to rehabilitate horses with fractured
legs.
A solution might be on its way
A Silicon Valley technology company The Beta Group, known for
its advanced biomaterials expertise, is passionate about improving
outcomes for equine athletes and thinks it has developed a
combination of shape memory and superelastic (nitinol) technologies
which they hope can "do the impossible" in the world of
thoroughbred horse racing: allow broken down horses to recover and
live out their lives
Bob Zider, Founder of Beta, calls
their effort a "Moonshot":
Beta has a 40 year history in all forms of nitinol, including
inventing Flexon® eyewear. They also have medical nitinol
leader in cardiovascular stents Nitinol Devices and Components
(now Confluent Medical) as well as orthopedic structural bone graft
(PorOsteon).
Beta's new technology does not use traditional plates or screws.
Instead it combines variations of nitinol's ability to provide
a customized compressive force with structural bone graft to
promote fast and complete bone fusion and tissue growth.
They have precedent using their Phusion Metal® structural bone
graft in horses successfully to treat Wobblers disease, a
neurological disorder resulting from compression of the spinal
cord. Additionally, they have developed human artificial ribs using
a similar combination technology. However, equine fractures present
a completely new level of difficulty.
"Venture capitalists won't touch this as too difficult and too
small a market," says Zider. "Tell that to horse lovers. Not
all things are done for dollars."
www.betagroupllc.com
www.porosteon.com
Contact:
bondan@betagroupllc.com
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content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-beta-group-do-race-horses-have-to-be-killed-for-a-fractured-leg-302135886.html
SOURCE THE BETA GROUP