Flowable demineralized bone powder composition and its use in bone repair

DETAILED DESCRIPTION What is claimed is: 1.
A flowable composition for application to a bone defect site to promote new bone growth at the site which comprises a new bone growth-inducing amount of dimineralized osteogenic bone powder in a biocompatible carrier, the carrier being selected from a member of the group consisting of liquid polyhydroxy compound, liquid polyhydroxy compound ester, liquid solution of solid polyhydroxy compound, liquid solution of solid polyhydroxy compound ester and mixtures thereof, wherein the carrier is on of the following components (i)-(iv); (i) the carrier is selected from the group consisting of glycerol, glycerol monoester and glycerol diester; (ii) the carrier is selected from the group consisting of monosaccharide, monosaccharide ester, disaccharide, disaccharide ester, oligosaccharide, oligosaccharide ester and mixture thereof; (iii) the carrier is a fatty acid monoester dissolved in a solvent which is a different liquid polyhydroxy compound and/or ester thereof; and (iv) the carrier is glycerol monolaurate dissolved in a solvent.
2.
The composition of claim 1 containing at least one additional ingredient selected from at least one of bone morphogenic protein, transforming growth factor and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1).
3.
The composition of claim 1 wherein the carrier is one of the following components (1) and (2): (1) the carrier is selected from the group consisting of fructose, glucose, sucrose and mixtures thereof; and (2) the carrier is glycerol monolaurate dissolved in a solvent which is a different liquid polyhydroxy compound and/or ester thereof.
4.
A flowable composition for application to a bone defect site to promote new bone growth at the site which consists essentially of a new bone growth-inducing amount of demineralized osteogenic bone powder in a biocompatible carrier, the carrier being selected from a member of the group consisting of liquid polyhydroxy compound, liquid polyhydroxy compound ester, liquid solution of solid polyhydroxy compound, liquid solution of solid polyhydroxy compound ester and mixtures thereof, wherein the polyhydroxy compound is selected from the group consisting of acyclic polyhydric alcohols, non-reducing sugars, sugar alcohols, sugar acids, monosaccharides, disaccharides, water-soluble or water dispersible oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, polyalkylene glycols and mixture thereof