Orpyx Medical Technologies: Saving lives and saving limbs
For millions of diabetic people around the world, the struggle of dealing with a diabetic foot ulcer causes immeasurable discomfort and can even lead to amputation. In fact, the frequency of amputation is considerably higher in people with the condition, with 85 per cent of diabetes-related lower extremity amputations being preceded by a foot ulcer.
Twenty-five per cent of people with diabetes develop foot ulcers over their lifetime and, even if resolved, have a 49 per cent chance they will re-ulcerate within one year. Seventy-five per cent of patients with diabetes develop peripheral neuropathy, a condition that often results in the loss of feeling in the feet. Scary statistics, to say the least.
It was those numbers that became the genesis for Calgary-based Orpyx Medical Technologies. After seeing the burden that foot complications posed to both patients with diabetes and the consequent cost to the healthcare system, President and CEO Dr. Breanne Everett wanted to get ahead of the curve and co-founded Orpyx in 2010 to create life-changing medical-grade wearable technology for those living with diabetes.
The innovative, custom-made Orpyx SI Sensory Insoles effortlessly capture data relating to plantar pressure (the pressure field between the foot and the support surface), temperature, step count and hours worn throughout the day. Not only does this collect patient-specific data all day, every day, but it also produces audiovisual alerts for the patient. Said alerts allow patients to take immediate action in addressing high-pressure areas that may lead to tissue breakdown, and with data being constantly fed to Orpyx’s cloud-based dashboard, trends can be identified by the health care provider to make more proactive treatment plans too. Better yet, Orpyx made its insole low-profile, so patients can hardly tell they’re wearing it.
Dr. Breanne Everett, President and CEO, Orpyx
UNIQUE CARE FOR EACH PATIENT
After seeing patients who had developed severe wounds on their feet or worse, lost a limb, from diabetes, Everett set out to develop the technology that would avoid this and change the lives of millions around the world.
“What really struck me is the reason people develop wounds was because they couldn’t feel their feet and didn’t have the protective sensation to tell them to stop doing something,” Everett explains, adding that the potential irreversible tissue breakdown can lead to amputation.
“It felt like a never-ending cycle of attempting to heal a patient’s wound, then having that same patient develop another wound shortly thereafter.” The wounds occur due to excess pressure over time not being mitigated because diabetes has caused the patient to lose sensation in their feet. For someone who has had such a wound, their likelihood of developing another in the subsequent year is about 50 per cent, increasing to 65 per cent over the next five years. Untreated, diabetics are susceptible to having the problem again, and could be on the path for amputation and immobility. Targeting the problem early on gives patients the best chance of making a life-changing difference – ensuring patients have the tools to bridge themselves for those high-risk periods and beyond is critical.
People who have had a history of foot ulcers are the best candidates for Orpyx’s technology. “For the patients, it’s not about providing a lot of data and graphs, it’s about providing actionable feedback,” said Everett. Since pressure is a key cause of ulcer formation, she believes that the first line of defence for patients is pressure sensing and for that information to be easily accessible to those managing the patient’s healthcare.
These healthcare providers are able to see data on an individual patient on the Orpyx SI dashboard. Pressure and alert patterns over time can help determine whether the patient is responding effectively to the insoles, ensuring continuity of care in a remote setting, with the ability to customize treatments for each patient. All data collected is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Patients get inflammation under the skin before a visible wound or blister appears. When this happens, the area will heat up, which is why Orpyx SI sensory insoles are also able to track for changes in temperature – a later stage detection mechanism – to try and intervene if it looks like the patient is on the path towards getting an open ulcer. All of which is invaluable insight for these patients’ healthcare providers.
Orpyx SI Sensory Insoles
TECH COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Through relationships with Calgary tech and higher education, being ingrained in the Calgary tech scene over the past 10 years has helped Everett and the Orpyx team further their world-class technology.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm and energy around entrepreneurship and innovation,” Everett says. It’s that entrepreneurial and innovative community, combined with support from institutional and angel investors who believed in Everett and the Orpyx team, that has helped the company roll out and continue to improve its technology for people with diabetes.
Orpyx’s close relationship with the University of Calgary (U of C) has helped them hire many locally trained individuals and graduates, particularly in research and development. From the company’s inception, they found a harmonious balance in terms of developing partnerships where they were able to leverage research and student capabilities, with notable projects at the Human Performance lab within the U of C.
“These are synergistic programs where students are able to get real world technology and innovations to work on, and we’re able to benefit from the infrastructure, testing capabilities, and the research structure that’s in place – something only possible if you’re bridging industry and academia.”
With startup environments, things can change quickly. Adaptability is key and is something Orpyx looks for when hiring people. “You’re growing and developing new technologies. We have to find people who thrive in changing and evolving environments,” said Everett. By recruiting local talent, Orpyx has found an entrepreneurially minded ecosystem to hire from, with a lot of talent undaunted by the concept of re-tooling and taking on something new.
Growing up in Bragg Creek, the Calgary area has always felt like home for Everett and the right place for Orpyx to be. “It has been the right choice to continue to stay here. When we started [Orpyx], our world wasn’t ready to adopt a medical wearable technology with remote monitoring. We’ve been able to have a relatively slow build supported by what we needed at that point in time,” Everett says, adding that the market is now ready for wearable technology, with timing aligning perfectly for Orpyx.
Along the way, Orpyx has had to jump hurdles to get to where they are today, which included getting reimbursement coverage for the device broadly in the U.S., and transitioning to wireless charging, developing their own wireless charger.
But Everett has now grown a strong team that can face these challenges and is focused on scaling, with the Orpyx team doubling in size in the past year, and shipping out their latest generation product. “Our team is going to continue growing, and we expect to double in size this year based on where our growth is expected to be,” she says, mentioning that Orpyx has also created another company called Kinetyx Science.
In the past year Orpyx secured $7.6 million in Series A funding, which was led by Paddock Capital Inc., bringing Orpyx’s total funding since inception of the company to $18.5 million, and will help accelerate further technology development and commercialization efforts.
TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGY
When Orpyx’s world-changing technology was in its development stages, it was evident this wasn’t just something for the diabetic foot, but the first truly smart insole that could measure pressure and movement throughout the whole body. With that, Orpyx was able to quantify and qualify activity, and understand how somebody moves overall. “I’m very confident we have the world’s best sensing insole system, a system that senses the body and its movements imperceptibly in the real world,” Everett says.
In short, Orpyx measures what matters and the technology can be applied to many different movement-related scenarios and conditions.
Orpyx has been able to continue its expansion, from analytics and algorithms to specific applications using their technology. While Everett mentioned it's taken time and patience to get to this stage, it has brought about potential future opportunities for people in many different situations – from diabetic patients to athletes.
“There has been an interest and dabbling in wearables, but we haven't even scratched the surface on the opportunities that exist in measuring human movement in the real world. We're not there as a society and that's, in my mind, absolutely where [wearables] is going to go.”
“Forecasting 20 years from now, I strongly believe you’ll see every single shoe is sensorized in some way, and we’re at the leading edge.”
In the future, be it to help prevent a diabetic foot ulcer, or to help runners improve performance on a two-hour marathon, each shoe would be sensorized for a different reason, and Orpyx is focused on growing the overall capability of measuring human movement.
WHAT’S NEXT
With their world-leading technology, Orpyx has created the ability to prevent diabetic foot ulcers from occurring, and potentially saving a patient’s limb. As Orpyx sets their sights on the future, Everett and Orpyx’s biggest focus is on scaling the company and extending the capabilities of their solution.
“Our goal is to completely change the paradigm for treatment of the diabetic foot. If you can change the way people think and manage diabetic foot ulcers, you change expectations around mobility and people living with diabetes, they can live longer, and move longer.”
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