A new $250,000 investment from economic development group JumpStart is part of an ongoing Series A that dental device startup Zuga Medical is raising to support an initial roll out its dental implant system this summer.
Founded in 2006 by a Cleveland-area dentist and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Chan Wang, the company makes a dental implant system intended to simplify the procedure so that it can be performed by general dentists, rather than specialists.
The company’s product portfolio comprises titanum threaded rods that are inserted into the jaw at the site of a missing tooth, to provide a secure base for attaching a crown. It allows dentists to use tools they are already familiar with and complete the procedure at about the same cost as a dental bridge would cost, according to Zuga.
A soft launch of the system with a handful of local dentists originally planned for early this year will now begin in July.
In the meantime, the startup has received 510(k) FDA clearance (PDF) and brought on Steve Cornelius, who had been serving on the company’s board of directors, as CEO – a role previously held by Wang. Cornelius said that if all goes well with the soft launch this summer, a national rollout of the implant system will begin early next year.
Millennium Research Group estimates that the dental implants and prosthetics market will grow nearly 10 percent annually through 2016, driven by an aging patient population and adoption of implant procedures among general dentists. But there’s plenty of competition in the space from companies including Biomet 3i, Southern Implants and 3M.
In addition to JumpStart (disclosure: JumpStart is also an investor in MedCity Media), Zuga has also received funding from Cuyahoga County North Coast Opportunities Fund and the Innovation Fund.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
[Photo credit: Zuga Medical]
