MEMSCAP and OrthoMEMS team up to develop biomedical sensor
-- EDN, May 20, 2009
MEMSCAP, a provider of MEMS-based products, and OrthoMEMS, a medical device company focused on biomedical applications of patented MEMS and wireless technology from Cleveland Clinic, have announced a multi-year strategic partnership and development agreement to manufacture a MEMS sensor for the assessment and treatment of mechanical low back pain. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
For MEMSCAP (of Grenoble, France, and Durham, North Carolina), the partnership with OrthoMEMS (of Menlo Park, CA) is a key component of its plan to expand its manufacturing presence in the US medical device sector. For OrthoMEMS, the partnership advances the development of its spine product all the way to market with a MEMS supplier to medical device companies.
The combined experience and technologies of MEMSCAP and OrthoMEMS, the companies report, will enable the development and commercialization of the OrthoChip, a miniature, batteryless, wireless pressure sensor that will provide an objective measurement of spinal disk pressures. The OrthoChip is designed to detect clear-cut pressure differences between normal and mechanically unstable spinal segments and to communicate the results telemetrically to a readout unit. This new capability is expected to significantly alter indications for surgery and nonsurgical treatments, the companies report, adding that no other technology, existing or emerging, provides this advantage.
As the leading cause of adult disability, spine conditions are widespread, the companies report, noting that an estimated 26 million people per year in the US alone report back pain severe enough to seek relief from a physician, with $90 billion, or 1% of the US gross domestic product, being spent on back pain in 1998.
“OrthoMEMS is an attractive partner because of its strong business and scientific team and the significant commercial potential of its spine application. This partnership is in-line with our strategic commitment to be the lead manufacturer of MEMS in medicine,” stated Steven Wilcenski, general manager of the MEMSCAP custom products business unit.
“MEMSCAP has a clear track record of success in developing and manufacturing high-value added MEMS sensors for medical use. This strategic partnership adds real value across our full product cycle—from the design-in phase to the market launch of our ground-breaking product that changes the way clinicians interact with the human body,” said Douglas Lee, chairman and CEO of OrthoMEMS.
See related article, “Test tenacity drives neurostimulator success.”
