August Major Funding to Fastrack Treatment of Arthritis of the Thumb Base Joint

Loci Orthopaedics awarded €2.5 million grant, has US patent granted, and enters into new technology licence agreement

Loci Orthopaedics, based in the Innovation Centre at NUI Galway, is lead partner in a consortium awarded in excess of €2.5 million to advance one of the company’s products to market, the “InDx Implant” under the European Commission’s ‘Fast Track to Innovation’ fund.

The InDx Implant product has been designed for the treatment of arthritis of the thumb base joint. This condition affects over 30 million people across the EU, and results in significant hand pain, and restrictions in mobility and independence. In the next three years, the company will focus on launching the InDx Implant in hospitals throughout Europe and the USA.

Loci Orthopaedics was founded as a spin-out from NUI Galway in 2017 by Dr Brendan Boland and Mr Gerry Clarke and is dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from arthritis through the development of novel, but evidence-based orthopaedic technologies. In 2018 the company closed an investment round of €2.75 million. The additional Fast Track to Innovation funding will bring the total funding raised for the InDx Implant product to almost €6 million, reflecting the major unmet clinical need that is being addressed.

Speaking about this recent grant, CEO of Loci Orthopaedics, Dr Brendan Boland, said: “The orthopaedics market is one of the fastest growing segments in medical devices, and the area we are working in is the fastest growing sub-section in orthopaedics. Being the lead partner on such a prestigious European Commission sponsored grant is a great endorsement for the company of the unmet clinical need, the growing market, and the innovativeness of our own technology.”

Mr Gerry Clarke, Chief Technology Officer at Loci Orthopaedics, said: “The InDx implant is the only thumb implant that is an evidence-based design. We have been working with three of the world’s leading hand surgeons from Stanford University, Brown University, and KU Leuven Belgium, to develop the first implant that can fully mimic the natural motions of the thumb base joint. This grant further supports the core technology of the product, as well as allowing us to accelerate the product to market to relieve the daily suffering of many millions of patients across the world.”

The Fast Track to Innovation consortium includes EndoLab (Germany), NAMSA (UK) and Medvie (Ireland), and was one of only 15 consortiums from across the EU to receive such a prestigious funding award.

Recently, the patent for the InDx Implant was granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office entitled “Implant for a Bone Joint” and is the first patent to issue from Loci Orthopaedics growing intellectual property portfolio. The company has further patents pending as well as several international patent applications across the field of Orthopaedic Medicine.

In addition to this portfolio, the company has entered into an agreement with NUI Galway, for a world-wide exclusive licence to the NUI Galway–developed “OsteoAnchor” technology. The OsteoAnchor technology is an additively manufactured surface finish for use in orthopaedic implants, which enables an implant to gain immediate fixation, via sharp claws, and long-term fixation, as the native bone grows around pillars and struts. This technology has been proven to provide enhanced fixation and osteointegration (bone growth around the implant), compared to other surface finish methods such as, plasma-spray coating. This is particularly useful in patients who require orthopaedic implants but have poor quality bone, for example, due to osteoporosis. 

It is estimated that the combined market potential for these two products (InDx Implant and OsteoAnchor) alone is over $1.5 billion per annum. 

Dr Boland commented: “Having the US patent granted for the core InDx Implant technology, as well as rapidly expanding the company’s Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio, is a very exciting time. We are developing a pipeline and platform of technologies to meet unmet clinical needs in the fastest growing market in orthopaedic medicine.” 

For more information about Loci Orthopaedics, visit: http://www.lociorthopaedics.com/ or follow the company on Twitter @lociortho

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