A Wisconsin orthopedics startup has already raised $881,668 in quest of $1 million, according to a recent regulatory filing.
Flex Biomedical is developing a polymer-based synthetic viscosupplement that would serve as an alternative to hyaluronic, acid-based, injectable viscosupplements that are meant to alleviate pain and boost joint movement in patients suffering from osteoarthritis.
Co-founder and CEO Sal Braico declined to comment on how the funds raised will be used. The company seems to have raised a total of $2.3 million including the current round based on earlier filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Just a little over a year ago, Braico told MedCity News that he was looking to raise $5 million. The company has tested the so-called Flex Polymer in vitro and in vivo, which “confirmed the polymer’s superior mechanical properties and its biocompatibility,” according to the company. The technology was commercialized out of Boston University.
In February, Canadian research firm Millennium Research Group estimated that the global hyaluronic acid viscosupplementation to grow to $2.4 billion by 2016.
By Arundhati Parmar
Arundhati Parmar is the Medical Devices Reporter at MedCity News. She has covered medical technology since 2008 and specialized in business journalism since 2001. Parmar has three degrees from three continents - a Bachelor of Arts in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India; a Masters in English Literature from the University of Sydney, Australia and a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. She has sworn never to enter a classroom again.More posts by Author
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