UC Santa Cruz Review Summer/Fall 1995

Boon for broken bones

Alumnus Brent Constantz (Ph.D., Earth Sciences, 1986) parlays his academic research on coral into a promising new medical technology.

In 1985, Brent Constantz was on a South Pacific atoll near Tahiti, working toward his Ph.D. on how corals make their skeletons. Ten years later, he heads Norian Corporation, a company making waves for its remarkable product: a paste that dramatically speeds the healing of broken bones.

That's not a typical career path for a geologist, but it has earned Constantz more public renown than any UCSC earth sciences alumnus since astronaut Kathy Sullivan. The attention is deserved, for his innovation could ease pain and cut medical bills for hundreds of thousands of Americans--especially those with age-related fractures of hips, wrists, and other joints.

Called Norian SRS (for "skeletal repair system"), the compound looks and feels like light-gray toothpaste. Doctors inject it into and around a fracture. The paste forms the same mineral composition as bone and hardens rapidly, matching the strength of natural bone in twelve hours. Gradually, living bone cells replace the implant.

Clinical trials show that Norian SRS helps patients get out of their casts much more quickly--in two weeks for a broken wrist, for instance, instead of the normal six. It could reduce the need for screws, plates, and other costly hardware. Most heartening, it could toughen the bones of people with osteoporosis, a condition of aging that renders bone porous and brittle.

Studies to gauge the long-term performance of the paste are under way. If all goes well, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could approve Norian SRS for certain uses by 1997.

The media glare on Norian grew white-hot in March, when Constantz and his team published an article in the journal Science. Reporters from across the globe called or brought film crews to company headquarters in Silicon Valley. The public was no less ravenous; Constantz received hundreds of letters a day, many from people seeking medical help. When told they could not get Norian SRS here, some flew to Holland, where doctors can use the paste.

This enthusiasm is easy to explain, Constantz says. "A lot of people love or know somebody who's suffering from bone degeneration," he says. "When they see the potential of Norian SRS, it's so obvious to them how it could help. They don't have to know chemistry or how molecule X works. If they understand basic carpentry and how concrete forms, and if they appreciate that bone is a responsive tissue, they've got it."

Since earning his Ph.D., Constantz has raised nearly $40 million in venture capital to develop Norian SRS. All along, he has kept in close contact with UCSC. He supports the summer research of two students under biologist Donald Potts, a coral specialist, and he donated equipment to the Earth Sciences Department. Several UCSC researchers have worked or consulted at Norian.

Professor Emeritus Leo Laporte, who advised Constantz on his Ph.D., says that his saga reveals how crucial it is for agencies to fund basic scientific research, even if it has no obvious practical spinoffs. Laporte also recalls that when Constantz applied to UCSC, reviewers looked beyond his grades. "Brent had other things clearly going for him, including enthusiasm, imagination, persistence, and a gung-ho spirit," Laporte says. "If we were to admit students only on their test scores or other numerical criteria, people like Brent might get swept aside."

--Robert Irion