ATRO Medical was founded in 2016 by Dr. Jan Hunik and Dr. Tony van Tienen with the aim to relieve patients of chronic knee pain. How? By developing an anatomically shaped meniscus prosthesis called Trammpolin®.
What is the project about?
The meniscus is an important shock absorber in the knee joint. Traumatic injury of the meniscus can lead to severe damage. With many patients, parts of the meniscus are removed to restore knee function. However, this often leads to chronic knee pain and more often than not osteoarthritis.
VP Marketing & Market Access at AtroMedical
“The standard treatment for severe knee osteoarthritis is a knee replacement, which is quite an invasive and extreme treatment,” says Maarten van der Zanden, VP Marketing & Market Access at AtroMedical. “That’s why Atro Medical aims to deliver a less invasive joint-saving solution by designing Trammpolin®. By replacing the damaged meniscus, we can restore the shock absorbing function of the meniscus, relieving patients of their knee pain and restoring mobility,” van der Zanden continues. “The ultimate goal is the widespread clinical use of our meniscus prosthesis. So, once the first medical trial is completed and we can start to help patients, our dream will have come true.”
How did FFUND help ATRO Medical?
FFUND helped ATRO Medical apply for the EIC Accelerator grant. It was a very successful collaboration and the company ended up receiving a €2.5m subsidy to support its new product. “We loved how easy it was to work together,” says van der Zanden. “We wanted to tell a story in the grant application and together with FFUND we succeeded in translating that correctly. The resulting application really reflected our plan and our passion for our product, in a more appealing format, of course.”
“We had a real partnership towards making this project a success, which made it very inspiring for me as well to work with AtroMedical.” Tessa van der Erve, project lead at FFUND
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For more information about the EIC Accelerator program, go to https://eic.ec.europa.eu/index_en
