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UB partner Garwood Medical Devices grows with new Northland facility

University at Buffalo technology licensee Garwood Medical Devices LLC has moved its headquarters to Northland Avenue in Buffalo, where the company is preparing for pilot production of its BioPrax™ device.

The technology behind BioPrax™, a cathodic voltage-controlled electrical stimulation, is patented by UB and Syracuse University and exclusively licensed by Garwood Medical Devices.

BioPrax™ is being developed to treat biofilm infections on prosthetic knee implants during early intervention procedures and used alongside the current standard of care. The device, which is currently undergoing pre-clinical development, provides a low-voltage electrical signal to prosthetics, creating an electrochemical reaction that kills bacteria associated with biofilms.

Pilot manufacturing is an important step toward bringing medical devices to market, demonstrating that a product can be made consistently in large quantities. Garwood Medical Devices anticipates producing pilot devices for use in clinical trials, says Wayne Bacon, president and CEO.

“When biofilm infections occur, it can be devastating to the patient and family. Over a five-year period, many of these patients do not survive,” Bacon says. “The cost to society is also very high, with the average course of treatment through traditional methods often costing families, the health care system and society hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is difficult to overstate the devastation that these infections cause.”

“It is extremely fulfilling to see this technology evolve from an idea we had 10 years ago to where we are today, with an exciting commercialization pathway for a product that could provide an effective solution to a very challenging clinical problem,” says UB biomedical engineering researcher Mark Ehrensberger, who co-invented the electrical stimulation method that BioPrax™ uses with UB faculty members Anthony Campagnari and Nicole Luke-Marshall; former UB researcher Esther Takeuchi; and former Syracuse University researcher Jeremy Gilbert.

Ehrensberger says the ultimate goal is to save lives and improve the quality of care for patients with infected orthopedic implants, potentially reducing the need for revision surgeries that can have long and painful recovery periods. University at Buffalo

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