The present invention relates to compositions comprising biologically
active chitinous oligomers and their endotoxin purified and partially
deacetylated chitin polymer precursors, and their use in pharmaceutical
compositions, biomaterial compositions, medical devices, and processes to
produce the said oligomers. More specifically the present invention
relates to novel compositions and processes to produce such compositions.
The compositions include therapeutic hetero polymer and hetero oligomer
compositions comprising specific sequences of N-acetyl glucosamine and
glucosamine, developed to optimize chemical and structural features which
are important for the therapeutic activity of these compositions. In
addition, the present invention provides methods to use degree of
deacetylation of a partially deacetylated chitin polymer in order to
modulate physical and biological parameters in a calcium phosphate
composite for bone implant applications.