Restor3d prints medical devices via selective laser melting using titanium or cobalt chrome alloys.
AI, 3D printing, and biomaterials to repair and rebuild the human body sounds like science fiction, but it’s the bread and butter of Durham, North Carolina-based medical device start-up Restor3d, which just secured another $70 million in funding to advance its development and marketing of 3D-printed, personalized, orthopedic implants.
The latest investment, secured in June, includes a Series A funding worth $55M spearheaded by private investors including Summers Value Partners and existing investors, complemented by an additional $15M in debt financing from Trinity Capital. This is the largest funding round since the company’s founding in 2017.
Restor3d says its 3D-printed titanium alloy and cobalt chrome implants improve joint reconstruction and repair because of the unique shapes – only manufacturable with 3D printing – provide better anatomical fit and integrate better with human bone.
Leveraging its expertise in 3D printing, Restor3d is looking to expand its custom-fit, patient-specific product line with the latest investment.
“Roughly 90% of our implants are 3D-printed specific to the patient,” says Jordan Wagner, Rastor3d’s VP of Marketing. Yet, “the off-the-shelf offerings, such as the Kinos Total Ankle Replacement System, allows us to be scalable in situations where a patient doesn’t need something very specific to them — there’s no high deformity cases or trauma.”
Last autumn, Restor3d completed its acquisition of Conformis, another orthopedic implant maker using 3D printing and patient-specific implants. This move expanded Restor3d’s portfolio of implants beyond foot, ankle and spine to knee and shoulder.
“Previously Conformis was printing their knees via a molding-casting process,” says Wagner. “We are now additively manufacturing those to reduce the cost of goods, which allows us to have a better margin and bring prices down.”
To custom-fit implants, Restor3d developed a proprietary software platform called R3ID that used a patient’s CT scan to help design the implant.
“In the software, we define all the bones within that scan and if there’s existing hardware in there,” says Wagner. “Then we look at the preoperative anatomy and the other side of the body as well, the contralateral, and we’re able to use AI and our expertise to then say, based off the contralateral and the deformity, here’s the proposed recommendation for the design of the 3D printed implant to get the patient back to normal.”
As more patient scans are fed to the software, the platform learns and is able to automate design faster.
“Think of it as like an actual learning brain,” says Wagner. “We’ve developed software and AI that is only getting better and better. We are able to then take the design, gut-check it with our in-person engineers, and say, this is accurate, let’s send it off to the surgeon for approval.”
Once approved, the digital design is sent to the metal 3D printer.
This latest funding will help the young Restor3d keep up with the growing competition in 3D printed implants.
“We’re not the only ones that are seeing personalization as important,” says Wagner. “Big ortho, like Stryker, SYK, Smith & Nephew, and Zimmer Biomet, ZBH, are talking about personalization and taking steps in that direction.”
Yet, a small, more nimble, born-digital company like Restor3d, has an advantage being built from the ground up on the latest additive manufacturing, AI, and software development, Wagner says. “There are some companies that have ventured into patient-specific in pockets, but they haven’t been able to take that and scale it across the body like we have with our foot, knee, hip, shoulder, and spine solutions.”
There is some research that shows a patient-specific implant reduces surgical time, recovery time, and the length of the hospital stay, and the chances of a follow-up corrective surgery. Convincing medical professionals isn’t a challenge, but Restor3d plans to take the message directly to patients.
“This year we have a patient ambassador program where we are interviewing patients, either preoperatively or postoperatively, to really understand that patient’s journey,” says Wagner. “We are starting to get into the direct-to-patient marketing.”
Surgeons and medical facilities are also eager to market custom-made implants as a way to differentiate their practice.
Restor3d employs 3D printers from Mass.-based Formlabs to creating patient-specific surgical guides and tools.
Restor3d utilizes a metal 3D printing technology known as laser powder bed fusion, also referred to as selective laser melting. The company employs machines from both 3D Systems and EOS, which use lasers to outline and melt a thin layer of the implant on a bed of powder. The bed is then lowered, a new layer of metal powder is spread, and the lasers trace the subsequent layer, fusing it to the previous one until the part is complete.
The company also collaborates with Massachusetts-based 3D printer manufacturer Formlabs on proprietary polymer printing for surgical radiopaque instrumentation.
Restor3d is predicting overall revenue of around $80 million this year, a significant increase from the $20 million reported last year before acquiring Conformis.
Looking toward future growth, Wagner states that Restor3d is keenly exploring the surgical robot space. The company’s current products are not compatible with surgical robotics. In the short term, the newly secured funding will be allocated towards acquiring additional 3D printers, enhancing post-processing capabilities, and setting up in-house sterilization facilities.
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