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As I mentioned earlier, on the M&A front, we acquired Aerosint — an early-stage company that is pioneering multi-material printing for additive manufacturing. Today, businesses print individual parts or components out of single materials, but in the future, they will increasingly look to print full products that are composed of multiple materials. Aerosint’s patented powder deposition process selectively deposits two or more powders to form a single, thin powder layer containing multiple materials. As the only high-throughput, multi-material powder recoating system in the market, Aerosint’s technology unlocks an exciting range of new applications for AM, including local optimization of mechanical properties, such as wear resistance or vibration dampening, and improvement of chemical and physical properties, such as thermal and electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, or aesthetics.
We look forward to partnering with our new colleagues at Aerosint to industrialize and mature this technology, and integrate it into upcoming Desktop Metal binder jetting products over the next several years. We are also excited to support Aerosint in their ongoing independent efforts with their existing partners, and to leverage DM’s scale, distribution, and industry-leading technology portfolio to capture new market opportunities. The future of AM is going to be multi-material printing, and Aerosint is a great addition and core technology that will enable us to grow the capabilities of our AM 2.0 solutions over time.
Turning to slide 5 on the left side of the page, the Desktop Health business also continues to build positive momentum. Mike Jafar is putting together an extensive healthcare team that includes leaders across disciplines to progress a number of compelling products currently under development. We are continuing to experience positive traction in the dental business, with another quarter of rapid growth, giving us confidence this team can deliver additional solutions to supplement our industrial business and accelerate the growth of DM overall. We believe dental is beginning to enter the steep part of the adoption curve, and most parts used in dentistry should be printable this decade.
This week, Desktop Health also announced the expansion of their dental technology portfolio with the qualification of cobalt chrome on the Shop System. The dental community will now be able to leverage the full capabilities of high-speed metal binder jetting, including faster and more cost-effective production of bridges, crowns, partial dentures, and more.
Also in the quarter, Desktop Health completed CE certification for our Flexcera Base and Smile resins and received FDA clearance for Class II permanent indications with Flexcera Base. Together, Flexcera Base and Smile enable next-generation digital dentures and same day full arch implant procedures. Flexcera solutions sold out within the first four weeks of launch, and we’re adding capacity to meet the robust demand.
We’re highlighting another acquisition that we’re very excited about on the right side of the page. This is a small company called Beacon Bio that was spun out of Harvard University. They have developed a promising new material that can be printed on our 3D Bioplotter systems and has the potential for use in repairing damaged eardrums. The Phonograft device printed using this material is analogous to Lasik vision correction, except it is intended for individuals who have hearing deficiencies and wear hearing aids, or who have experienced eardrum perforations, which occur in about 30 million people annually worldwide. Phonograft technology promotes eardrum repair while decreasing patient procedure times through a minimally invasive procedure. We expect Phonograft will improve patient hearing outcomes by leveraging the body’s natural regenerative processes, as the biodegradable graft material is slowly replaced by native tissue over time. This exciting technology is in advanced-stage R&D, and the team at Desktop Health intends to conduct additional preclinical studies and pursue FDA review with the goal of delivering a solution to the market within 24 months.
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