Tag: Intellijoint

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AC Grad Intellijoint Surgical wins the Shopify Grit Award

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TORONTO (May 31, 2016) – At today’s Action Entrepreneurship Canadian Summit in Toronto, Futurpreneur Canada and Shopify announced Intellijoint Surgical Inc. as the winner of the Shopify Grit Award. The award celebrates the kind of business success that comes from having “true grit” – creativity, ingenuity and resilience when faced with challenges.

“Futurpreneur has helped launch thousands of businesses and we are honoured to be 1 of 3 recipients of the prestigious 20th Anniversary Awards,” said Armen Bakirtzian, Co-Founder and CEO, Intellijoint Surgical Inc. “Business owners across this country face countless challenges, and we are humbled and extremely proud to represent the hard work and determination it takes to succeed.”

The team at Intellijoint Surgical started out as three graduates from Waterloo University with no medical background or entrepreneurial experience who set out to undertake a major challenge – creating a medical device and putting it on the market. They overcame many obstacles to create a surgical device that is FDA-approved, has a Health Canada medical device license, and has been used successfully over 350 times across North America. In just six years, they’ve gone from one desk at the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo to 10,500 square foot facility and have hired 22 people.

“Starting a business takes dedication, hustle and a desire to succeed. We’re excited to support the next wave of entrepreneurs, especially the incredibly talented team at Intellijoint Surgical,” said Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify.

“Starting a business can be challenging for anyone without entrepreneurial experience, but putting a medical device on the market is a huge test of resilience,” said Scott Bowman, Senior Director, Ontario, Futurpreneur Canada. “The team at Intellijoint Surgical have proven that determination and persistence are one of the greatest contributors to entrepreneurial success.”

The Grit Award was one of five awards that Futurpreneur presented today. Other awards included the Clearwater Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the BDC Mentorship Award, the Youth Business International Beyond Borders Award and the RBC Community Partner Award. These awards are one way the organization is celebrating its 20th anniversary, by recognizing top Futurpreneur-supported entrepreneurs and the people and organizations that support their success.

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Armen Bakirtzian of Intellijoint looks back on the journey from Startup to Scale-up 

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For most people, hip replacement isn’t something that crosses your mind until later in life. But for Armen Bakirtzian and co-founders, Andre Hladio and Richard Fanson, developing a solution to help improve the outcomes of these surgeries became a launchpad for starting their company, Intellijoint Surgical Inc.

Together they presented their idea and won the pitch competition at the 2010 Ontario’s Next Top Young Entrepreneur Pitch Competition. That same year they were welcomed to the Accelerator Centre.

Looking back, Armen Bakirtzian, now CEO at Intellijoint, notes that when he and his co-founders first walked into the AC, they were all grinning ear-to-ear. After working in their basements, garages, kitchen tables or any space they could find, having an actual office gave them a tremendous boost in confidence and focus.

“It was an incredible experience. We met great people, got inducted into the ecosystem and took advantage of all the resources. To this day, we all feel that it was one of the best decisions we made.”

He added that as technical co-founders, they came into the program only having the experience of working on a school project. They hadn’t hired anyone or gone through any of the steps of establishing formalized business practices. However, they’ve come a long way since then.

On the day we spoke with Armen, Intellijoint was moving into a larger office. While staying in their current location, they were more than doubling their space. Since graduating from the AC in June, 2014 they’ve gone on to receive nearly $550,000 in FedDev investment.

Their flagship product, intellijoint HIP™, a surgical tool designed to enable orthopaedic surgeons to more effectively meet their surgical objectives and improve patient outcomes, earned them the 2015 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Enabling Technology Leadership.

They’ve made significant inroads in the Canadian and American markets and they recently entered into a strategic partnership that will provide access to the Australian market.

With success, comes responsibility. Rising to the occasion, Intellijoint is dedicated to remaining in Waterloo Region. Armen firmly states, “Our focus to build ourselves here, to draw talent here and give back to the ecosystem — it all ties back to our time at the AC.”

THE RUNDOWN

Family: He is married to Garod Bakirtzian.

Business hero: His father.

Person he’d like to have lunch with: Carey Price

Guilty pleasure: Nutella 

The best piece of advice you’ve ever received: If you’re going to fail, fail quickly and move on to something else.

Three things most people don’t know: 

  • He’s from Quebec.
  • He has a scuba diving license.
  • He’s a godfather. (The mentoring kind, not the mafia kind.)
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Intellijoint Surgical and Corin Group enter strategic partnership for intellijoint HIP

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Waterloo, Ontario, March 17, 2016 – Intellijoint Surgical Inc., a privately held Canadian medical technology company committed to developing and commercializing miniaturized surgical smart tools announced today the signing of a distribution agreement with Corin Group. The deal gives Corin distribution rights for Intellijoint’s flagship product, intellijoint HIP™, in Australia and paves the way for broader distribution and co-development between the two companies.

intellijoint HIP provides surgeons with vital intraoperative measurements in real time, enabling proper establishment of cup position, equalization of leg length and restoration of hip offset. These critical measurements enable surgeons and hospitals to improve surgical outcomes by reducing uncertainty and risk, while improving patient outcomes and economics.

Russ Mably, Corin’s Chief Operating Officer commented, “We are delighted to partner with such a progressive company as Intellijoint Surgical, and are excited about our future collaboration. This partnership will further strengthen our market leading position in functional implant positioning with our existing OPS Technology (Optimized Positioning System), and underlines our commitment to continue to invest in Personalized Procedural Innovation”.

“We are pleased to partner with Corin to offer intellijoint HIP to surgeons in Australia.  The broader capability of Corin’s organization and their commitment to innovation will expand access to the latest technology available for 3D surgical measurement to the growing Australian hip replacement market where surgeons currently perform about 45,000 procedures annually.  We look forward to the beginning of a meaningful relationship between our two companies and are excited about future opportunities,” says Armen Bakirtzian, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Intellijoint Surgical.

About Intellijoint Surgical Inc.

Intellijoint Surgical is a Waterloo-based innovative medical technology company. Founded in 2010, they develop and commercialize miniaturized surgical smart tools that enhance surgeon accuracy, increase hospital economic efficiencies, and improve patient outcomes.  The company’s R&D team is led by the former co-founder of Medtronic’s computer assisted surgery division, and driven by a team of renowned orthopaedic surgeons:  Drs. Allan Gross and David Backstein in Toronto, Dr. Wayne Paprosky in Chicago, Dr. Javad Parvizi in Philadelphia and Drs. Michael Cross and Ran Schwarzkopf in New York.

About Corin Group

As a leader in orthopaedic innovation, Corin has pioneered a number of landmark developments since it was founded in 1985. Corin is very proud to have been able to improve the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of patients around the world through the introduction of these groundbreaking products, and believes that this heritage distinguishes Corin within the global orthopaedic market. Corin’s talented and dedicated teams share a common commitment – to deliver quality orthopaedic products, procedural innovation technologies and services to patients, surgeons and healthcare providers, which exceed their expectations and positively impact their lives, through Responsible Innovation.

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Intellijoint Surgical Receives FDA Clearance for the Next Generation of intellijoint HIP™

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A Miniature Surgical Smart Tool for Cup Position, Leg Length, and Offset in Hip Replacement Surgery

WATERLOO, ON–(Marketwired – January 07, 2016) – Intellijoint Surgical Inc., a privately held Canadian medical technology company committed to developing and commercializing miniature surgical smart tools, announces today that it has been awarded US Food and Drug Administration clearance for the next generation of intellijioint HIP™. Cup position (inclination and anteversion) is now provided, in addition to the original leg length, offset, and change in hip center measurements.

“With the previous generation of the product, our use showed improved accuracy and precision of implant selection without a significant expense or impact on OR time,” said Dr. Wayne Paprosky, professor and widely published orthopaedic surgeon at Rush Medical Center in Chicago. “The new generation of intellijoint HIP provides surgeons with additional critical implant alignment measurements including cup inclination and anteversion, which will be a potential game changer of how hip surgery is performed in the US.”

intellijoint HIP can assist in the prevention of recurrent instability, hip dislocation and leg length discrepancy and may expedite decision-making and improve accuracy in achieving preoperative planned targets, ultimately improving patient satisfaction and healthcare economics.

“Intellijoint was founded in 2010 with the vision of developing and commercializing an innovative technology that is capable of providing real time 3D surgical measurement data, without adding significant time, expense or complexity to surgery,” says Armen Bakirtzian, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Intellijoint Surgical. “Now, with FDA clearance ofintellijoint HIP, we’ve realized this vision and are ready to bring its benefits to the largest market in the world.”

Intellijoint’s core technology represents the latest in miniature 3D surgical measurement within the sterile field. intellijoint HIP is the first of many products to benefit from this new novel core technology. It is safe, fast, accurate, and precise. intellijoint HIP‘s compatibility with the majority of implant vendors, paired with its cost-effectiveness, opens accessibility of computer-assisted surgery to all orthopaedic surgeons.

About Intellijoint Surgical Inc.

Intellijoint Surgical is a Waterloo-based innovative medical technology company. Founded in 2010, they develop and commercialize miniaturized surgical smart tools that enhance surgeon accuracy, increase hospital economic efficiencies, and improve patient outcomes. The company’s R&D team is led by the former co-founder of Medtronic’s computer assisted surgery division, and driven by a team of renowned orthopaedic surgeons: Drs. Allan Gross and David Backstein in Toronto, Dr. Wayne Paprosky in Chicago, Dr. Javad Parvizi in Philadelphia and Drs. Michael Cross and Ran Schwarzkopf in New York.

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AC Grad Intellijoint granted new patents in the US

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Intellijoint Surgical’s Patent Portfolio Gains Strength Through the Issuance of New US Patents

AC Graduate Intellijoint Surgical Inc., a medical technology company committed to developing and commercializing low-cost miniaturized surgical smart tools, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company a key patent related to its core technology in miniature 3D surgical measurement. The patent, number 9138319, is entitled “Method and system for aligning a prosthesis during surgery”.

Intellectual property development is a strategic cornerstone for Intellijoint Surgical. The company continues to build its patent portfolio through new applications and several recent issuances. The issuances include Intellijoint’s core technology and the surrounding instrumentation enabling it to be placed in a sterile field. Another key patent, entitled “System and method for intra-operative leg position measurement” is expected to issue in early 2016.

“Our miniaturized smart tools are setting the new standard in 3D measurement for surgery,” says Armen Bakirtzian, Chief Executive Officer of Intellijoint Surgical. “Patent issuances are rewarding milestones recognizing the novel technology our organization has created. We will continue to aggressively pursue patents to protect our innovations and build business value”.

Intellijoint graduated from the Accelerator Centre in 2014. The company’s technology provides quantifiable, accurate, intra-operative feedback helping surgeons and hospitals to potentially improve surgical outcomes through accurate implant positioning and selection, ultimately improving patient satisfaction and healthcare economics.

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Intellijoint Surgical receives $550,000

Intellijoint Surgical has received up to $550,000 from FedDev Ontario to develop and commercialize the company’s innovative Intellijoint HIP™ sensor system for orthopaedic surgery. The announcement was made by MP Peter Braid on site at Intellijoint on Tuesday March 6th, as part of a larger FedDev funding announcement.

“We are extremely grateful for the FedDev Ontario Investing in Business Innovation initiative and its continued support for great start-ups like Intellijoint Surgical”, says Armen Bakirtzian, CEO of Intellijoint. “With FedDev Ontario’s support we are able to accelerate the commercialization Intellijoint HIP™.”

Intellijoint HIP™ is a miniaturized system consisting of two disposable sensors and a display unit. It is designed to help orthopaedic surgeons in the selection and positioning of orthopaedic implants during hip replacement surgery. “Intellijoint Surgical’s technology has been leveraged by surgeons in hundreds of surgeries in Canada. Now the company is  expanding into new markets,” said Peter Braid, MP for Kitchener-Waterloo. “In fact, in September of last year, Massena Memorial Hospital in New York became the first hospital in the United States to use the technology.”

Intellijoint Surgical was one of three companies to receive FedDev investment, with Auvik Networks and Dejero also receiving funding rounds as part of the announcement. Overall, FedDev committed $1,775,000 to the three companies, which is anticipated to allow for the creation of up to 55 new jobs in Waterloo Region.