When told you need to go under the knife, you want to know you'll receive the best treatment possible. If you're able, you might endeavour to seek out the best available doctors, or the most specialist of hospitals. But you probably wouldn't give too much consideration to what those doctors in those hospitals have at their disposal.
Todd Hodrinsky and Marcel Janse, however, did. The pair met through patient communities while they awaited treatment for their respective spine issues. Hodrinsky had over 20 years' experience in strategic management and product launch, while Janse was an engineer and inventor who boasted the same amount of experience in product development.
They, like most in their situation, searched for the best doctors in the best hospitals. But they also carried out research into the best available implant solutions. And found there was a 'fundamental mismatch' between 'standardised, mass-produced implants and the unique anatomy of individual patients.'
A 'one-size-fits-most' device could lead to suboptimal load distribution and implant migration, while they were concerned about the body's inflammatory response to wear debris and improper fit. Neither Hodrinsky nor Janse were in the mood for much more back pain. But they were in the mood to develop a solution, co-found a business together, and take their new implant system to market.
"We believed there had to be a better way," Hodrinsky, CEO of Nivalon, told TCT. "[Our] EvoFlex [implants] were born out of the idea that implants should be patient-specific, biomimetic, and biologically stable, designed to work with the body rather than against it."
