X-Bolt Orthopaedics could be snapped up by a major player
As an orthopaedic surgeon, Brian Thornes might have performed hundreds of hip operations but, as the inventor of a new hip fixation device, he will very likely be responsible for fixing hundreds of thousands of hips, without even being there.
Called the X-Bolt, his invention has been patented in Europe, trialled in more than 250 patients in the UK, and is expected to secure approval from the US Food and Drug Administration soon.
Once this happens, his Dublin-based company, X-Bolt Orthopaedics, could be snapped up by one of the major players in the orthopaedic device market.
“The X-Bolt uses an expanding bolt to substantially reduce the risk of complications and the need for extended hospital bed days in hip-fracture patients that occurs in one in every 20 patients. It results in substantial savings for hospitals,” says Dr Thornes, who got the idea for the invention from an expanding bolt he used to fit a plasma screen TV on a wall.
Since it was set up in 2007, X-Bolt Orthopaedics has raised over €4m in equity funding. Based in Santry and Bristol, and employing a staff of eight, the company has now been shortlisted for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award, in the emerging business category.
After 11 years in post-graduate surgical training, Dr Thornes hung up his scalpel in 2005 and went on to spend 12 months completing a full-time MBA at Trinity College Dublin. The switch in profession followed his successful invention of the Tightrope, an implantable device used to repair ankle injuries.
While still working as an orthopaedic surgeon in 2003, he licensed the Tightrope to US company Arthrex. “This now has 24% of global market for ankle syndesmosis fixation, and annual sales of $20m (€18.2m). A total of 180,000 units have now been implanted,” he says.
Experiencing a second light bulb moment in 2007, Dr Thornes decided that he would develop his second invention himself and validate the technology with a view to selling the company once it had gained regulatory approval.
He raised seed funding from family and friends in 2008, during difficult economic times. “We closed the first funding round, for €750,000, in September 2008, just two days before the bank guarantee,” he says.
Starting out with a staff of three, Dr Thornes began working on R&D. Identified as a High Potential Start-up by Enterprise Ireland, in 2011 the company raised a further €750,000, and, in 2013, secured an additional €1.8m.
Clinical trials of X-Bolt started this year and the device has now been used in over 250 surgeries in the UK. A patent for it has been secured in Europe and is pending in the US. The majority of the company staff are engaged in R&D while the manufacture of the X-Bolt has been outsourced to medical technology companies in Galway.
Dr Thornes believes that the X-Bolt can change hip-fracture surgery in the same way that the Tightrope has revolutionised ankle fracture surgery.
Given the high incidence of hip fractures in the elderly, he says the market is vast and increasing exponentially. “There are 180,000 hip fixations a year in the US and 300,000 in Europe and the number is increasing by over 2% year on year,” he says.
Dr Thornes explains that with existing systems, which use a screw, 5% of hip fixations fail, resulting in increased hospital bed-days and additional costs. The value proposition offered by X-Bolt is that it “reduces complications and the average bed stay, allows for faster operative times, and its price is identical or less than market leader hip-fixation systems”.
The focus now is securing US regulatory approval and awaiting publication of a large UK clinical trial. Dr Thornes says he has already held informal discussions with some of the orthopaedic device companies which dominate the hip-fixation market.
At present he is not thinking beyond validating the technology and selling the company. But as an entrepreneur responsible for the invention of two medical devices, it is likely he will turn his attention to new orthopaedic solutions. He admits to having a few other ideas which he will consider floating at a later date.
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