Insight Surgery Receives $2.5 Million Investment & FDA Clearance for 3D Printed Guides

UK-based Insight Surgery has received a $2.5 million investment, with the round led by medtech investor Nodenza Venture Partners. Insight has a workflow solution for end-to-end design and printing of patient-specific orthopedic surgery guides. The firm, formerly known as 3D LifePrints, previously collaborated with Ricoh. Insight is one of a tribe of firms all making end-to-end workflow solutions in prosthetics, orthopedics, CMF, trauma, orthotics, sports medicine and more. These firms all deal with the entire end-to-end workflow, from customization to production of surgical models, guides, and even implants.

Nodenza Managing Partner Ross Morton said,

“Insight Surgery is exactly the kind of company we look to back. Disruptive tech, with clear benefits to patients being delivered now not tomorrow, and – with the right funding in place – the potential to be the leader in the personalized surgery market. Their platform addresses a real need in orthopedic surgery by enabling better outcomes via bespoke products, which resonates with both surgeons and health systems looking to meet patient demand in personalized surgery. We believe Insight, with the support that the Nodenza team can provide, is well-positioned to scale rapidly across the US.”

This investment follows the granting of FDA 510(k) clearance for the company’s surgical guides for orthopedic and orthopedic-oncology surgery, and will be used to further accelerate their recent growth in the US market. Their planned expansion will provide surgeons with rapid access to sophisticated tools that improve patient outcomes, reduce risk, and expedite recovery. Whereas the true extent of the efficacy of personalized medicine has yet to be demonstrated at scale, these firms are providing unique products that deliver on value for patients, hospital systems, and insurers now. The dream of personalized medicine may be a compelling future, but the reality of these solutions is creating dozens of firms that are doing well today.

The company’s EmbedMed solutions enables orthopedic surgeons to plan and simulate surgical guide procedures. The guides are then 3D printed and delivered within ten days in the United States. The company manufactures its own guides at the Texas Medical Center (TMC) in Houston. The money raised in this investment round will help Insight open two new manufacturing sites, one on the West Coast and the other on the East Coast.

Insight Surgery CEO Henry Pinchbeck said,

“Our mission is to make advanced surgical planning tools accessible and scalable across the US healthcare system. This investment allows us to accelerate our plan to enable every orthopedic surgeon in the US to have easy access to Personalized Surgical devices within surgically meaningful timelines. We’re excited to build on the momentum we’ve already seen with leading clinicians. We’re not just focused on improving surgical precision – we’re focused on doing it in a way that makes financial sense for healthcare systems. By reducing operating time, streamlining workflows, and lowering complication and readmission rates, our technology can help hospitals drive down costs while delivering better care. This investment allows us to scale that impact nationwide.”

Orthopedic oncologist Dr Adam Levin added,

“Insight’s technology makes it possible for me and my colleagues to operate with greater precision and speed, which directly improves outcomes for patients and reduces the likelihood of costly complications. For hospitals and providers, this means fewer revisions, shorter operative times, and faster recoveries. It’s a rare example of a surgical innovation that’s both clinically and economically compelling.”

Through making surgical planning more precise and reducing planning time, while perhaps also reducing time in the operating room and increasing outcomes, Insight can reap real rewards for users and their clients. Mistakes with surgical guides, and from freehand surgical procedures, are costly. For a comparatively modest investment, a hospital can reap real tangible cost savings quite quickly. More procedures can be completed, keeping both the surgeons and the finance crowd happy. Meanwhile, surgical guides reduce errors, and this can save a hospital in the US millions of dollars. Insight is working on getting more approvals for orthopedics, CMF, and pediatrics as well. Their platform could be an extensible solution across a lot of surgical procedures. Materialise, Axial3D, and others are doing well in this field, and I think we shall see much more success from these end-to-end firms in the years to come.