LAUNCHING THE WORLD’S FIRST SMART KNEE OA BRACE WITH 3D ASSISTED EXERCISES. PARTNERSHIP WITH SPORLASTIC

First steps towards digitalization in the knee surgery and bracing

Digital innovation is probably the biggest trend in healthcare nowadays. But there are a lot of complex challenges to overcome in order to enter and explore the opportunities with any digital product.
These challenges apply to medical technology companies and distributors, but indirectly it touches the doctors and healthcare managers as well. Proving the medical benefits of a digital product while delivering the business model with an integration in the medical system is a complex task.

The first steps towards the digitalization of orthopedic surgery started around 2018, with the introduction of the surgery robots. One of the first companies to present such a prototype was Verily, the health arm of Google. After recording significant technical improvements, the digital platform was later acquired by Johnson & Johnson. The global market for the surgical robots is expected to reach $4.1 billion in 2030, while the robots for the knee and hip surgery is expected to be at $4.6 billion in 2022.

Surgery is not the only part of the patient’s pathway to benefit from digital innovation. On the other side, the bracing industry has also seen significant improvements.

In 2018, DonJoy launched the X4 brace with MI cloud platform, which is able to record daily activity, being used after the total knee replacement surgery.
But daily activity is only a small part of the problem, in an industry where the peak of adoption has been reached.

With the best quality of the materials, improved ergonomics and sophisticated mechanics, the most famous knee braces brands are all comfortable and high quality. Securing a portion of the prevention and rehabilitation using the existing established channels was the strategy behind the adoption of the digital tools.

With the best quality of the materials, improved ergonomics and sophisticated mechanics, the most famous knee braces brands are all comfortable and high quality. Securing a portion of the prevention and rehabilitation using the existing established channels was the strategy behind the adoption of the digital tools.

re.flex’s strategic partnership with Sporlastic

In 2018 re.flex met with Sporlastic and learned a lot from their experience with digital technologies. As a German, family-owned company with over 150 years of history, Sporlastic has been building knee braces and a wide range of orthopedic products.

After experimenting with several prototypes hoping to find the business model, Sporlastic understood they needed more than just a gadget. In order to have a strong business case and gain a competitive advantage in the market, their knee brace needed to be able to secure new-business. And this translated into adding value to the knee Osteoarthritis brace, by offering a continuation of the existing treatment. Integrating the re.flex technology and empowering patients using the brace to follow their physical therapy at home was the most important decision to be made.

On the other hand, for a digital startup, entering a medical market like Germany can be challenging without a deeper understanding of the ways to navigate through the complex legislative, data security, GDPR and overcome the operational challenges.

re.flex and Sporlastic decided to sign a 5 year strategic partnership (2018-2023), with an initial focus on launching a smart knee OA brace, with digital assisted exercise plans.

The product launching event is scheduled for September 2021

We concluded that targeting the end of 2021 for the first product release will give us enough time to co-develop the go-to-market strategy and deliver the required studies.

The first large milestone we agreed to achieve is the DiGA reimbursement for the knee Osteoarthritis product.

Securing the public reimbursement in Germany with DiGA

The launching of the new Sporlastic Genudyn OA smart knee brace is right around the corner, being set for the end of september 2021.
Around the launching date, the Tubingen University research department will publish the paper highlighting the significant health benefits associated with using the new Sporlastic-re.flex brace.

The paper was coordinated by Dr. Inga Krauss and Asst. Valerie Dieter and included a study done on 61 patients suffering from moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis.
The official date of the event and location will be communicated on the Sporlastic channels (here and here)

Shortly after this, re.flex and Sporlastic will shift focus into the post-surgery product, an area with complex challenges and where Charite University Hospital will conduct the investigation.

Building medical evidence around both the existing and new products should be the focus of any digital health company.
Only this way the doctors will have enough understanding of the capabilities of the innovative digital tools to solve the many challenges of the medical industry.

In the long term we share the belief that having these digital treatment options available for lower back pain and other areas of the body can generate substantial value.
Lower back is the most common source of chronic musculoskeletal pain in the world. And many stakeholders of the industry showed an interest in certain aspects of the home exercise plans.

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