Tomsk SEZ resident MOJE Keramik-Implantate plans to enter US market in 2015

Tomsk SEZ resident MOJE Keramik-Implantate plans to register and start selling its products in the US in 2015.

“An US player joining our Russian-German partnership is a very important result of 2014,” says director of OOO MOJE Keramik-Implantate Anatoly Karlov. “We are currently discussing with clinical experts from Florida the mix of products for the entry to the US market. At the same time, we are negotiating financial matters with the partners and the investor.”

The roadmap of the joint project will be developed and approved by the end of January.

“We do not intend to sell several batches and boast that we export product in the US. The result of this initiative should be of critical importance, defining for the economy,” he emphasizes.

“We entered into cooperation at the end of 2014 and we intend at the end of January to approve an entry plan so that we register our products and start selling them in the US by the end of the year,” says Sergey Bushnev, representative of Core Institute, Florida. He adds that their cooperation with the hi-tech Tomsk partner involves not only sale of products but also joint work in several other areas such as developing new products.

Core Institute says, the global orthopedic market looks highly promising today with the capacity about 100 billion dollars. The US and Japan are the two biggest players. Japanese market is highly conservative and much smaller in size than the US one. Experts say, once the company firmly has established in the US market it can position itself as a global player in terms of growth prospects, attracting capital and building research capability.

“Europe started doing big joint replacement surgeries in the 70s, the US – in the 80s. It is routine practice in Russian hospitals now.  As for small joints, there is not a common strategy for the installation of micro implants. Very often the joint is rigidly fixed instead of being replaced.  Anatoly Karlov proposes a way to resolve this clinical issue and at the same time implement revolutionary treatment for patients. We have just started. Doctors are conservative and reluctant to try new approaches,” says Sergey Bushnev.

The roadmap of the joint project by the Tomsk and US companies includes setting up a ‘club of doctors’ from Russia, Europe and the US who will work together to develop a strategy and philosophy of using micro implants for the replacement of small joints to treat fractures, arthritis and other conditions. The group will do surgeries, collect and analyze data, present reports, etc. For this project doctors will be invited from Novosibirsk, Moscow and the Central Florida Regional Hospital, one of the largest ‘donors of intellect’ in the US medical society. Part of the plan is also to set up a research and manufacturing facility.

“Our company makes and sells titanium and nitinol products, we have a center at the largest hospital of Central Florida where we develop and test new designs and technologies. We are also establishing an investment fund to facilitate investing into projects in Russia,” Sergey Bushnev comments.

Anatoly Karlov assured that Tomsk SEZ will remain the main research and manufacturing site of MOJE Keramik-Implantate and all previously announced projects will be implemented.

“Ideal import substitution is when the domestic product fully occupies the domestic market and can be exported at the same time. Our initiative has two goals: substitute imported small joint implants and launch the product into the global market making the company a big player. The strategic goal is the same: grow into a powerful hi-tech export-oriented Tomsk company.”

MOJE Keramik-Implantate was founded in 2009. It became a resident of the Tomsk SEZ in the same year.It is a joint Russian-German venture which combines German ceramic processing technology and Russian bioengineering technology.The company develops new products in cooperation with companies from the US, England and Japan, and clinics from Russia, CIS and India.All products are sold under the German brand ‘MOJE Keramik-Implantate’.

MOJE Keramik-Implantate engineers and produces implants for hand, foot and wrist joints, and dental and neural implants made of zirconium oxide nanoceramics. The company has a know-how which secures its strategic superiority in the second largest in medicine, after spine surgery, market of hand, foot and wrist joint implants.The implants are made of sub-microcrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconium oxide powder with bone-like modification of the surface which helps fix the implant in the bone tissue. Research is conducted in cooperation with foreign partners to produce implants from other polymers and composite materials to replace joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, etc.

The company’s distribution network spans across almost all Russian cities and regions.Products are exported in the CIS countries (Kazakhstan was among the first customers).The company has well-established distribution channels into Asian countries. Currently, it is working with several leading Indian clinics and coordinating a number of dealers.Marker entry initiative to the US and China has started.

• 
• January
•