The Netherlands-based ArthroSave, a company that has developed a treatment to solve mobility issues for patients with knee osteoarthritis, announced that it has raised €2.6M in a fresh round of funding led by Oost NL and new investor Essential Investments.
The Oost NL investment came from ‘Energie- en Innovatiefonds Gelderland’, an innovation fund from the province of Gelderland managed by Oost NL.
Aiding in the fight against severe knee osteoarthritis
Knee osteoarthritis patients have damaged knee joints and experience chronic pain every day. Due to increased obesity rates and an older population, knee osteoarthritis affects nearly 2.2 million individuals in Europe alone and is rapidly expanding. Currently, replacing the knee joint with an artificial one is the only successful therapy.
Artificial joints, however, have a short lifespan and eventually wear out, requiring revision surgery associated with increased mortality, inferior results, and higher expenses. With more young people presenting with knee osteoarthritis and increasing life expectancy, there is an unmet need to postpone time to first knee replacement.
This is where ArthroSave steps in. Founded in 2016, the company aims to help patients return to their active lifestyle after six weeks of treatment with the KneeReviver, and thereby postpone knee replacement surgery.
Karianne Lindenhovius, CEO and co-founder of ArthroSave, says, “ArthroSave has developed the KneeReviver enabling knee joint distraction as a joint preserving solution. Knee joint distraction with the KneeReviver is a temporary treatment that unloads the knee joint for six weeks. This results in the relief of pain and improvement of function. Due to the regeneration of the joint, the original knee joint will be preserved. This will postpone the knee placement surgery for 10 more years and will prevent complex revision surgery later in life.”
ArthroSave is a spin-off company of UMC Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Capital utilisation
According to ArthroSave, the funds will help the company to perform clinical trials and accelerate the commercialisation of the KneeReviver.
ArthroSave claims to have successfully completed the first KneeReviver clinical trial with encouraging clinical outcomes, secure a CE mark, and perform small-scale patient operations.
“With this new investment, we can perform additional clinical trials and accelerate our commercial strategy and introduce the KneeReviver on the international orthopaedic market. We are happy that existing investors Oost NL, Utrecht Holdings, MSB Isala and Weskiway and also new investors Essential Investments and a group of informal investors support us during this journey,” says Lindenhovius.
Brief about the investors
Oost NL (East Netherlands Development Agency) specialises in assisting regional businesses with internationalisation, sustainable growth, and other goals. By providing risk capital, information, networks, and relationships, the agency serves as a link between the government, businesses, and research institutions and helps SMEs in the startup and growth phases.
Amsterdam-based Essential Investments is a Seed capital fund that backs high-tech companies within the life sciences sector. The fund provides Seed and early-stage funding for R&D-intensive startups and ventures.
Benjamin Sieters, Investment manager at Essential Investments, says, “ArthroSave has developed a unique solution for knee joint regeneration. This will enable millions of patients to retain their knee joint while eliminating arthritic damage and pain. With the increasing occurrence of osteoarthritis, this product will have a major impact on healthcare and society.”
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