Dublin-based X-Bolt Orthopaedics, a hip fracture fixation company, has secured €1.8 million in funding to bring the product to a global market.
As reported by Silicone Republic, the funding round was led by the AIB Seed Capital Fund, co-managed by Enterprise Equity Venture Capital, and included private investors with a background in medical practice and the MedTech industry.
The company, established in 2007 by former orthopaedic surgeon Brian Thornes, provides an expanding bolt medical device used to repair hip fractures, which have shown to reduce the need for repeat surgery.
Addressing a gap in the global market, the X-Bolt, which is already in use in more than 100 patients in Irish and UK hospitals, improves the efficiency of current hip-fracture treatment and reduces the requirement for costly and often devastating repeat surgery.
Hip fractures typically account for 20-30% of all trauma orthopaedic bed occupancy, with some 2,500 hip fractures fixed annually in Ireland. About 5% of these will require a second operation owing to inadequate fixation in the hip bone. This arises because the fixation device fails to anchor securely in bone that is fragile and soft through osteoporosis. X-Bolt overcomes this by using an expanding bolt which achieves a secure anchorage in the femoral head.
Repeat surgery and associated prolonged hospital stay due to inadequate fixation is estimated at €4m per annum in Ireland alone. Use of X-Bolt is set to eliminate these additional costs, reduce complication rates and reduce the average acute hospital bed stay.
X-Bolt Orthopaedics outsources manufacture, packaging and sterilisation to med-tech companies based in the West of Ireland, accounting for indirect employment of about 30 people, in addition to currently directly employing five people in its offices in Santry, Dublin.
The company plans to increase direct employment throughexport sales to UK, Europe and the US over the next two years. This in turn will lead to a greater increase in business and employment to its Irish med-tech supply base.
The latest investment brings the total amount invested in the company in the past three years to €3.3 million. It expects to obtain FDA approval in the US later this year.
formed
Junior editor at Fintech Intel