Trice Orthopedics Completes Bridge Loan Financing

King of Prussia, Pa.-based Trice Orthopedics Inc. has closed its bridge loan financing, raising raising approximately $3 million in new capital. BioStar Ventures led the round, along with Millennium Life Sciences, existing investors, and several new private investors.

Trice Orthopedics, a private company, is developing needle-based diagnostic and therapeutic technologies for simple, cost-effective orthopedic procedures in the physician’s office. The device currently in development is minimally invasive, and the company claims it will deliver near painless and cosmetically undetectable procedures. The device is designed to provide a more immediate and definitive diagnosis than modalities such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), hoped to reduce the overall cost of treatment.

“These proceeds will fund the company through its 510(k) submission, in Q1 2014, and the start of commercialization in mid-2014,” said President Richard Washburn commented. “We look forward to this next stage of our development. I believe that there will be a tremendous amount of opportunity in the orthopedic markets for the Trice device.”

“We believe the features and benefits of the Trice device will be the catalyst to explode in office endoscopy,” added Jeff O’Donnell, executive chairman of the board and a BioStar managing director. “Our plan to grow the company through direct sales and strategic relationships will provide our shareholders a healthy return in a reasonable time period.”

The U.S. arthroscopy market is expected to more than double to over $4.2B by 2017. Alan Davis, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and medical venture partner of BioStar Ventures, said, “There is a tremendous unmet need for the Trice device. The ability to obtain immediate insight to a patient’s condition, via a minimally invasive office based procedure with this easy to use, pre-sterilized, disposable device provides tremendous clinical advantages to physicians and patients. Its simple, elegant design and use will make it desirable for a wide variety of arthroscopic uses.”