Internal Research Bracing Against Artelon

With new players in the ligament augmentation market, such as In2Bones BioBrace, and the lasting excitement surrounding Stryker’s acquisition of Artelon, Arthrex aims to stay competitive with a new cadaveric study comparing the properties of their FiberTape and the Artelon FlexBand.

As expected with an industry-funded study, the FiberTape proved superior, demonstrating greater strength than both the FlexBand and native anterior talo-fibular ligament (ATFL) control. Interestingly, the data showed that the load to failure (LTF) of the native ATFL control was 338 Newtons (N), which is over 100 N stronger than the ATFL of 160.9 N average LTF reported in their 2012 study. The FlexBand had an average LTF of 146 N, which corresponds more closely to previously reported LTF strength of the ATFL, and just over 20 N less than the data reported by Artelon.

The question is: Has the native strength of the ATFL evolved over time, and now requires even stronger augmentation materials, or does this new data simply better support the company’s narrative?