Intellijoint Surgical Inc. is one of Canada’s leading medical device startups. The Kitchener company’s navigational tools are used by surgeons in 15,000 procedures annually to help improve outcomes of hip and knee replacements, mainly in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Japan. And the company was named Canada’s fastest-growing technology startup by Deloitte in 2020.
Funding for the six-figure purchase of Intellijoint equipment and enough disposable items used during surgery for 1,200 procedures – two to three years’ worth – is not coming from Humber’s operating budget. Rather the funds were raised by its foundation at the behest of Humber surgeon Dr. Sebastian Rodriguez-Elizalde.A deal like this “is a one-off; this is not a scalable model” to grow in Canada, said Intellijoint CEO Armen Bakirtzian.
“From a budget perspective, we’re always constrained in terms of just being able to maintain the equipment we have today,” said Mark Taylor, director of commercialization with Toronto’s University Health Network. “Hospitals have relied on donor money to purchase those big-ticket items. That’s a function of our system.”
There is a recognition at the political level things need to change. “I would absolutely acknowledge that any procurement of medical technology has proven to be challenging for Canadian companies,” said Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. He said several recent initiatives by his government should lead to more purchasing from domestic manufacturers.