ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,408,962, issued on Sept. 9, was assigned to BIEDERMANN TECHNOLOGIES GMBH & Co. KG (Donaueschingen, Germany).
"Bone anchor" was invented by Timo Biedermann (Trossingen, Germany) and Wilfried Matthis (Weisweil, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A bone anchor includes a shank having a free end, a longitudinal axis, a channel extending axially through the shank to the free end, the channel having a first width, and at least one opening extending through a wall of the shank, and a narrowing member including an elastically deformable portion configured to extend into the channel at or near the free end. The narrowing member is adjustable...