Active Implants goes worldwide from the start

The Commercial Appeal
October 30, 2007
By Daniel Connolly

Last week was typically global for Active Implants Corp., a small Memphis-based medical device firm.

Israeli engineers had flown to Memphis to prepare for a meeting with the firm's medical and scientific advisers. In Berlin, representatives were showing off the firm's artificial hip product at a gathering of German physicians.

And Richard R. Smith, a University of Tennessee professor who performed research sponsored by the firm, was in Honolulu to present data to surgeons from countries that included Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

Active Implants shows how market conditions can encourage small companies to go global from the outset.

The firm was founded in 2004 by former employees of the firm now known as Wright Medical Group and bought patents created by Israeli engineer Amiram Steinberg, whom one of the founders knew personally. The firm kept research facilities in Israel, and will sell its products overseas long before they're available in the United States.

"We really started day one as a global company," said Stephen Bradshaw, the firm's president and CEO.

Next month, Active Implants will go overseas for the commercial launch of its first product, formerly known as the AIC Hip Buffer and now branded as the TriboFit Buffer. The small, flexible cup is made of polycarbonate urethane and fits into the hip socket during joint replacement surgery.

The firm says it is meant to work more naturally than the hard materials common in total joint replacements today.

So far, only 20 patients have received the device. But other countries make it relatively easy for medical devices to go on the market, and the company will start selling its products in Germany, Greece, Israel and Italy in just a few weeks, Bradshaw said.

The company is still pursuing Food and Drug Administration approval.

The company argues that its artificial hip product is better than existing products. A tissue culture experiment that Smith performed at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center shows that use of the polycarbonate urethane material in joint implants might mean users would be less likely to develop osteolysis, a bone-weakening condition that sometimes forces doctors to perform a second joint replacement surgery.

The theory has yet to be tested in animals or humans.

The company's next goal is to create an implant that's meant to replace the meniscus, the tissue that cushions the knee joint. Human tests are scheduled for next year.

One of the firm's key centers for developing the next generation of products is a lab in Netanya, Israel, not far from the Mediterranean Sea.

The building is filled with mechanical testing equipment for measuring compression and stress, and a freezer stores cadaver parts for experimental surgeries, said Noam Weissberg, vice president of research and development.

Weissberg, who lives in Israel, said it's easy to work with partners in another country. The researchers speak among themselves in Hebrew but communicate with others in English. Conference calls and e-mails are routine, and air travel reduces the distance.

"It's not a big deal," he said. "You can go within 13 hours, or something like that."

Active Implants isn't the only Memphis company to work with high-tech partners in Israel. Medical equipment firm Luminetx Corp. announced earlier this month that it's acquiring a stake in Explay Ltd., an Israeli firm that designs miniature projection equipment.

Bradshaw says he doesn't see the global nature of his firm changing soon.

"Personally I don't think it's going to get less. I think it's going to get more spread out," he said.

-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296

More info:

Active Implants Corp.
Headquarters: 5865 Ridgeway Center Parkway, Suite 218; research facilities in Netanya, Israel
President and CEO: Stephen Bradshaw
Employees: 15
Web site: activeimplants.com