Garwood Medical Devices LLC, an emerging company developing BioPrax technology to eliminate antibiotic-resistant bacterial biofilm infections associated with implants, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Integrum AB, a worldwide leader in helping individuals with amputations improve their quality of life through Integrum’s OPRA Implant System. The intent is to explore a collaboration aimed at expanding treatment indications for the OPRA Implant System.
 
Garwood President/CEO Wayne Bacon and Integrum Founder and Chairman Dr. Rickard Brånemark announced the intent to conduct joint research activities on the use of Garwood Medical’s BioPrax technology in relation to Integrum’s bone-anchored prostheses system for amputees. The OPRA Implant System has been used in more than 500 surgeries, including those taking place at Walter Reed Hospital, in the treatment of many U.S. military veterans who became injured in combat. 

“As an orthopedic surgeon, I am all too familiar with the devastating results of implant associated infections,” said Brånemark. “I believe Garwood Medical’s BioPrax technology could be transformational in changing patient treatments and outcomes for any implant. For Integrum, I see an additional potential using this technology to expand the indications for use of the OPRA Implant System to treat amputees who are more prone to infections; such as those with certain comorbidities and the elderly.”
 
This method, which is based on osseointegration—through which the prostheses are directly attached to the bone—provides a beneficial alternative to the traditional socket prosthesis. Brånemark is also an investor in Garwood Medical Devices.
 
As with any implant, infections can occur. Although rare, these infections can be devastating to the patient and costly for the overall health care system, with few effective treatment options.

Bacon, who co-founded Garwood Medical Devices with Brian Peterson in 2014, remarked, “We are excited to announce this alliance with Integrum, which offers obvious benefits for both companies and most importantly, for patients. We will benefit tremendously from Dr. Brånemark’s long experience as an orthopaedic surgeon, researcher and inventor and at the same time, collaborate to research yet another valuable application for our BioPrax™ implant biofilm infection control technology.”
 
Garwood Medical’s BioPrax device is under investigation to study the elimination of biofilm infections on prosthetic knee implants during early intervention procedures and used alongside the current standard of care. It is currently undergoing pre-clinical trials. 
 
BioPrax was accepted into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Breakthrough Device Program in October 2019, an important milestone on the path to market acceptance and widespread usage among orthopedic surgeons and hospitals as soon as 2025.
 
Integrum AB is a publicly-traded company based outside of Gothenburg, Sweden, with a U.S. subsidiary in San Francisco. Since 1990, osseointegration, the science behind the OPRA Implant System, has been helping individuals with amputations enjoy a dramatically improved quality of life. Thorough surgical experience gained over more than three decades, from 500 surgeries, in 14 countries, has led to the development of Integrum’s system for bone-anchored prostheses—a vastly superior alternative to the traditionally used socket prosthesis. 
 
The OPRA Implant System is the only FDA-approved medical device for above- knee, bone-anchored prosthetics available in the United States.