Medartis
Fueling Innovation in the Extremities Market

Having emerged as one of the fastest-growing categories in the orthopaedic landscape, the extremities market is mushrooming at a rapid pace. Fueled by an ageing world population, higher demand for specialisation in extremities and the rising global incidence of obesity, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and diabetes, and their impact on bone quality and fracture fixation requirements, the global extremities market is witnessing increased adoption of new technologies that contribute to improved patient outcomes. Against this backdrop of numerous factors propelling and accelerating growth in the market, there is room for innovation and expertise to take over. As such, companies like Medartis were born.

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Medartis is a global medical device company focused on developing, manufacturing and selling advanced and efficient implant solutions for internal surgical fixation. Specifically catering to the needs of surgeons, hospitals, medical centres and group purchasing organisations, Medartis has a proven track record of successful market penetration based on next-generation osteosynthesis products in upper and lower extremities and CMF (head). The company’s business divisions, R&D, key manufacturing processes, logistics, sales management and head office functions are under one roof at the Basel headquarters wherein all key technologies are manufactured in-house with highly automated production lines.

Medartis is committed to empowering customers with the most innovative solutions, including TriLock—a multidirectional locking technology of the screw into the plate. The company’s products also comprise HexaDrive, an advanced self-holding screw and screw-driver technology, and numerous non-trademarked innovations for plates and manufacturing processes. Besides, Medartis-patented SpeedTip is one of the unique screw technologies in the market that does not require pre-drilling in orthopaedic surgeries.

The uniqueness of Medartis stems from its close collaboration with experts in development and education to address clinical and market needs.

Our focus on providing innovative, Swiss-quality, and price-competitive fixation system solutions, combined with continuous education and service support, has been the cornerstone of our success

The company collaborates closely with surgeons to maximise the understanding of their needs and their patients. “This understanding, in combination with our engineering capabilities, forms a core pillar of our product development process and assists us greatly in producing our advanced and efficient implant solutions. Through our interactions with surgeons, we are able to further advance the specialisation of our products,” says Willi Miesch, Member of the Board and Chairman of the Strategy and Innovation Committee, Medartis. “Our focus on providing innovative, Swiss-quality and price-competitive fixation system solutions, combined with continuous education and service support, has been the cornerstone of our success.”

Medartis and its products have been a part of several medical research studies, one of which was conducted by the hand surgery units of Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Careggi in Italy and Traumatology Department at Medical University in Austria. The study suggests that over time, various devices with different designs and characteristics have been developed, but all have failed to securely fix marginal, small, and comminuted fragments as bony ligament avulsions and bony compression injuries. The group of researchers at these universities wanted to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcome of a new device born to treat marginal articular fractures of the distal radius. By implanting the Medartis-developed unique Hook Plates in 23 patients, the two groups of researchers found that volar rim fragments had healed and reduced until the final follow-up. After a follow-up of 21 months, they found the carpus was aligned with the distal radius in all patients presenting a radiocarpal dislocation. Evidently, the researchers concluded that Hook Plates in Medartis’ APTUS Distal Radius System 2.5 product line stabilises distal fragments at their bone-ligament interface.

In line with the regulatory requirements (ISO 13485:2016) and the new MDR Medical Device Regulation, Medartis plans to increase its focus on dedicated sales activities, as well as further expanding its product range with innovative solutions. The company is looking forward to strengthening its market position in the US while building its sales forces in the lower extremities segment for its new subsidiary based in Japan.