Garwood Medical Devices has crossed another threshold as it continues to develop technology its leaders believe will one day alleviate a devastating medical problem.
The company has closed on a $4 million round of Series C funding to support the pre-clinical development of its BioPrax technology, which treats infections on metallic orthopaedic implants. About 50,000 patients in the U.S. alone contract infections on hip and knee implants each year, a serious problem that leads to a series of difficult choices for doctors and patients.
In late 2020, Garwood moved its headquarters and laboratory space to the 5,866-square-foot “Red Shed Building” owned by Buffalo Urban Development Corp. on Northland Avenue, next to the building that houses the Northland Workforce Training Center. The company has 13 employees and plans to hire several more this year.
The building was renovated extensively to support the sensitive engineering and laboratory work that goes into pilot manufacturing development, with the goal of entering human trials sometime within the next few years. While much hard work remains, Garwood hopes that its device is fully approved and entering a robust sales cycle by 2025.
In the meantime, the company has begun conversations with BUDC on at least 20,000- to 30,000-square-feet of new production space, preferably somewhere in the Northland neighborhood, as Garwood prepares for full scale manufacturing. It plans to retain the Red Shed building in addition to the new space.
Garwood is following the time-consuming and expensive pathway toward commercializing a medical device. But its leaders say they are seeing exciting developments in pre-clinical work that justify their belief that BioPrax twines a transformative opportunity in business and healthcare.
“What we’re doing here is going to save and change a lot of people’s lives,” said Wayne Bacon, co-founder and CEO.
Garwood was founded in 2014 with tech licensed out of the University at Buffalo and Syracuse University. While Bacon heads up the business side, Brian Peterson oversees operations as CTO and vice president of engineering. Peterson started working at Garwood in 2017 and moved with his family to Buffalo in 2019.
“It’s exciting,” Peterson said. “I’ve worked in the medical device industry for more than 13 years, and to be working on a product that helps people in this way is why I’m doing this.”
Garwood has now raised more than $11.4 million since it was founded. The latest round included contributions from the WNY Impact Investment Fund, the Murray family (former owners of U-C Coatings) and a global network of investors in the orthopaedics and health care space. More than 90% of the company’s existing investor base contributed to the Series C.
In the near-term, Garwood must complete its pre-clinical work, which will be reviewed by potential clinical partners and regulators, a process that it expects to attract major institutional or corporate investors. The company is supported by its inclusion into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Breakthrough Device Program.
While Garwood is initially targeting infections on prosthetic knee implants, its long-term vision is much bigger than that. Once its initial use case gains market acceptance and widespread usage, it will be able to expand to similar procedures on an expedited timeframe, Peterson said.
Garwood is the 13th startup with significant operations in Western New York to confirm a growth-oriented round of private capital this year. The others include Tackle.io ($35 million), Jerry ($28 million), Torch Labs ($25 million), Circuit Clinical ($7.5 million), SomaDetect ($6 million), Kickfurther ($5.9 million), HELIXintel ($1.6 million), Ellicottville Greens ($1 million), Ognomy ($700,000), Braid Babes ($415,000), MemoryFox ($380,000) and Zizo Technologies ($200,000).
