Ganymed Robotics, developer of software and robotics technologies for orthopedic surgeons, has secured a €2,5 M grant through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program. EIC funding will help Ganymed bring its innovation to the millions of patients suffering from arthritis.
EIC Accelerator, designed to develop and scale up ground-breaking innovations, is the most competitive public funding scheme for deeptech startups in the world, with this year over 2000 companies applying and only 65 winners.
Ganymed Robotics is developing a new approach to surgical robotics by combining computer vision, a branch of artificial intelligence, and mechatronics. Ganymed’s first application is a robotic surgical assistant for total knee arthroplasties (TKA). Driven by a growing and aging population, demand for orthopedic surgery is rapidly increasing and the market for TKA is expected to rise from 2.4 million procedures in 2021 to 5.7 million in 2030 in the OECD alone. Orthopedic surgeries are complex, yet 95% are performed without technological assistance, leading to sub-optimal outcomes; patient dissatisfaction rate is above 20%. Ganymed’s device is the first compact, ergonomic, and intuitive robot, simplifying, accelerating, and increasing the accuracy of orthopedics.
Platform
Sophie Cahen, CEO of Ganymed Robotics, indicates: “We are thrilled by EIC Accelerator’s support which validates the high potential of Ganymed’s technology and comes as a strong recognition of the major milestones Ganymed has achieved so far. We are now in a solid position to accelerate the development of our unique, patented technology platform to bring more intelligence and efficiency into the operating room and become the new standard of care for joint replacement.”
EIC Accelerator’s support comes at a pivotal time for Ganymed, following major successful milestones in R&D, intellectual property, product design and human resources.
Clinical trial
The company launched a clinical trial in September 2021 to validate the company’s proprietary algorithms and collect unique in vivo data, enabling new opportunities for AI-assisted surgery. 50 patients already enrolled, with 36 more to come. Ganymed secured strategic partnerships with manufacturers to initiate the industrialization of its device. On the intellectual property front, the company obtained a patent in the United States and has 5 more pending patents, with more filings to come. Attesting of the medical community’s endorsement, two top international orthopedic surgeons personally invested in the company. Furthermore, Ganymed reinforced its management team through the recruitment of former Global R&D Director at ZimmerBiomet Michel Vernizeau, as Vice President of R&D.
The company will use the EIC funding to accelerate product development and further strengthen an already world-class team, to become global category leader in surgical orthopedics robotics by the end of the decade.
