Miach Orthopaedics is looking to build upon its efforts to change the standards for ACL tear treatments, bringing in a new leader with three decades of medical device industry experience amid another successful capital raise.
Jamal Rushdy joined Miach in May as the Westborough-based firm’s president and CEO. He replaced Patrick McBrayer, who stepped down after helping the firm raise over $60 million for its Bridge-Enhanced ACL Restoration (BEAR) Implant.
The BEAR Implant facilitates healing of a torn ACL by acting as a bridge between the torn ends of the ligament. The implant seeks to offer patients an alternative from reconstructive surgery, which involves either taking a ligament from elsewhere in the patient’s body, or using one from a cadaver.
The company’s sponge‑like device helps a torn ACL grow back together using a patient’s own blood, allowing the ligament to heal itself. Within a few months, the implant dissolves and is replaced by the body’s own tissue.
The implant was first granted De Novo Approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2020. BEAR has received attention from players’ unions in major sports for its potential for faster recovery of muscle strength and ability to restore ACL quality and size to that of an uninjured ACL.
Rushdy came to Miach after a two-year stint leading Minnesota-based medical device firm Arcuro Medical. He said he was attracted to the role because he sees it at the forefront of orthobiologics.
“Orthopedics is in the early stages of a broader shift toward biologic treatments and new surgical techniques that work with the body’s natural healing processes that save the native tissue,” Rushdy wrote in an email to WBJ. “Our goal is not simply to introduce a new product, but to help advance new treatment paradigms that can improve outcomes for patients, which gives us tremendous opportunity for years to come.”
The BEAR implant has been used to treat nearly 10,000 patients, Rushdy said, with the firm now focused on accelerating adoption of the implant across the country through surgeon education.
Miach’s work has continued to attract interest from investors. The company announced it had secured $40 million in financing for its U.S. rollout in 2023. Miach has raised an additional $34 million since then, according to financial filings, with its May insider convertible debt offering bringing in $6.5 million from 14 investors.
ACL tears are a major setback for professional athletes, with recovery times sometimes exceeding a year. Miach’s BEAR Implant has received investments from the NFL Players Association and the Major League Soccer Players Association.
“Treatment decisions will always be surgeon-driven and patient-specific,” Rushdy wrote. “There are careers on the line when making those decisions, so we take that responsibility seriously. We are seeing increased interest in the BEAR Implant from surgeons that treat patients at that elite level in preserving native tissue, especially as more encouraging data comes out relating to appropriate techniques and rehabilitation protocols.”
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.
