MINNEAPOLIS, MN, February 26, 2019 – HighLight Orthopedics, a Minneapolis medical device developer, announced it has been awarded a Fast Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Institutes of Health.
HighLight will use the funding to complete product and procedural development of its HLO Tissue Tension Sensor technology, a handheld device used to help orthopedic surgeons accurately balance the tension of knee ligaments during total knee replacement (also known as Total Knee Arthroplasty, or TKA). Soft-tissue balancing is a crucial component of TKA procedures, linked directly to whether the surgery is successful, or not. Poorly performed soft-tissue balancing can result in pain and discomfort for the patient, potentially leading to implant failure.
Peter DeLange, CEO of HighLight parent company FocusStart LLC stated, “We are excited to receive this funding to ultimately help the 700,000 people undergoing TKA each year. The SBIR program is very competitive, and our award is further validation of the critical need for innovative solutions to improve patient outcomes.”
Phase I funding of $224,000 has been released to HighLight; assuming the successful completion of this phase, the remaining $1.5 million would be used to finalize product design, pre-clinical testing, and preparation for FDA submission. HighLight is targeting Q2 of 2019 for completion of Phase I.
About HighLight Orthopedics, LLC
HighLight Orthopedics was founded to commercialize intellectual property licensed from the University of Minnesota. HighLight is developing a simple, repeatable method to precisely balance ligaments in total knee replacement procedures using our proprietary sensor technology.
About FocusStart, LLC
FocusStart’s business model is to bring scientific, engineering, and business expertise to the process of developing early-stage medical technology, and guiding the technology to commercialization. The company does this by engaging corporate strategic players in the medical device industry early, and working closely with them throughout the process.
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