Oost NL boosts successful hip implant

25,000 hips are fractured in the Netherlands every year. Patients can choose between repairing the hip or installing a hip prosthesis. The complication rate for the repair is high, meaning that patients have to go through another nasty and expensive surgery. Gannet offers a solution with its unique implant that greatly reduces hip fracture complications. “In the event of a fracture in which the hip needs to be fixated because the bones no longer are aligned properly, a serious complication arises after more than 30 per cent of current surgeries. That percentage has dropped to 14 per cent with our implant,"says Alfons Wegdam, director of Gannet. “Usually, a hip prosthesis is installed when serious complications arise. When patients are young, such prostheses must often be revised after 15 years, to be followed by wheelchair at a later time. New legislation has raised the age limit for placing a hip prosthesis, increasing the need for better and simpler to install hip implants. Our hip implant fixates the fractured hip much more stable, is smaller and easier to install in surgery.”

The innovative hip implant is applied hundreds of times per year in eleven Dutch hospitals. Gannet from Hengelo aims to increase this number and therefore looks beyond the national borders. A clinical study is being carried out at the initiative of Dutch and Belgian hospitals, which serves as additional evidence for Gannet if successful. Gannet also expects to get permission to market the Gannet in America this year. Part of the investment is used for these processes.

Gannet already received a small investment from the Innovation Fund Overijssel before. Marius Prins, director of Oost NL, is enthusiastic about Gannet’s development. “Gannet is an example of an innovation that clearly demonstrates to lead to a reduction of healthcare costs. Only in the Netherlands we’re talking about up to 8 million euros annually. This amount will only rise due to the ageing population. Gannet has the potential to reduce healthcare costs globally and make a difference for patients.”

Innovation Fund Overijssel and Health Innovations jointly invest in Gannet, which is a spin-off of BAAT Medical. The latter is still involved as a cooperation partner and investor. Dick Sietses from Health Innovations has been investing in Gannet from the very beginning and praises the entrepreneurial spirit at the Hengelo based company. “Introducing a new implant requires a lot of persuasiveness and perseverance. Doctors are used to existing treatment methods and do not easily deviate from them. Nevertheless, Gannet has succeeded in convincing many doctors that our hip implant not only eases their work but also reduces patients' suffering. Having to go into surgery for a second time after major hip surgery is very impactful. Gannet reduces such cases by 50 per cent, thereby convincing more and more doctors.”