California-based medical manufacturing company PrinterPrezz has signed a customer agreement with medical device company SI-BONE, Inc. to develop services for advanced 3D printed orthopedic devices and implants. The companies will leverage PrinterPrezz’s expertise in metal 3D printing, nanotechnologies and surgery to come up with next-gen medical devices.
As metal 3D printing technologies become increasingly sophisticated, the opportunities for custom medical implants and devices continue to grow—something which is being exploited by a range of innovative AM and medtech companies. One of those companies is PrinterPrezz, the self-proclaimed first “Medifacturing” company, which combines metal AM, nanotechnologies and surgical expertise to come up with and deliver breakthrough solutions for the medical sector.
The young company, which opened its first Innovation Center in the Silicon Valley in December 2018, has already entered into some promising collaborations. For instance, in January it revealed a partnership with 3D scanning specialist Growshapes LLC to scale PrinterPrezz’s 3D imaging lab. Now, the company will offer its services and expertise to SI-BONE, Inc., a medical device company known its iFuse Implant System which enables minimally invasive surgeries for the sacroiliac joint.
“Our surgeons are asking for more metal 3D printed medical solutions to help their patients, and we continue to push forward our R&D to deliver solutions for those who can benefit from surgical treatment of SI joint disorders,” said Scott Yerby, Chief Technology Officer of SI-BONE. “Working with PrinterPrezz’s local Bay Area Innovation Center enables extremely fast turnarounds for our engineering team. This allows us to test prototypes more quickly and iterate using 3D printed models in pursuit of better patient outcomes.”
PrinterPrezz will work closely with SI-BONE to develop new solutions for advancing orthopedic devices and specifically sacroiliac joint treatments in the pelvis. More than providing its additive manufacturing know-how, the Medifacturing startup will also offer medical expertise from its Chief Medical Officers Alan BC Dang, MD and Alexis BC Dang, MD and SVP of Medical Innovations Shafkat Anwar, MD.
“Every year the percentage of people being impacted by injuries from sports and a growing aging population increases,” added Shri Shetty, CEO of PrinterPrezz. “We’re expecting the orthopedic market size to increase from $5 billion to $50 billion dollars. SI-BONE is at the forefront of providing minimally invasive surgical products for the sacroiliac joint, seeking to help patients around the world who are suffering from low back pain caused by SI joint dysfunction.
“We’re working closely with SI-BONE to accelerate ground-breaking development of high-performance devices to meet the demands of this large and underserved market. Leveraging our multidisciplinary team of clinicians and engineers as well as our suite of 3D printers, 3D manipulation software, and 3D scanners, PrinterPrezz helps customers bring life-changing orthopedic devices to market faster.”
Source: 3dprintingmedia.network
