Zimmer Biomet to launch world’s first smart knee implant

MedTech News: Zimmer Biomet, a global medical technology leader, and Canary Medical, a medical data company, announced the authorisation to market the world’s first and only smart knee for total knee replacement surgery, cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

By combining their technologies, Zimmer Biomet and Canary have developed a total knee replacement system personalised for each patient’s anatomical needs and offers real-time remote monitoring data.

“We are excited to introduce Persona IQ, the world’s first and only smart knee implant, which offers a wealth of objective data to monitor patients’ post-operative progress,” said Bryan Hanson, Chairman, President and CEO of Zimmer Biomet.

Persona IQ combines Zimmer Biomet’s knee implant, Persona^® The Personalised Knee^®, with Canary Medical’s proprietary implantable canturio^TM te tibial extension sensor technology that measures and determines range of motion, step count, walking speed and other gait metrics. Persona IQ will work together with Zimmer Biomet’s remote care management platform, mymobility^® with Apple Watch^®, as well as other components of the ZBEdge™ Connected Intelligence Suite.

“As the newest component of ZBEdge, Persona IQ advances our vision of creating a seamlessly connected suite of digital health and robotic technologies to deliver objective data to clinicians throughout the surgical journey. Following a recent expansion of our partnership with Canary Medical, we now expect that Persona IQ will be the first in a broader portfolio of smart implant technologies in various orthopaedic surgery applications,” Mr Hanson added.

Zimmer Biomet Asia Pacific told Health Industry Hub that the current registration for this innovative technology is solely for the US. Nonetheless, Zimmer Biomet is exploring regulatory opportunities outside the US including registration with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Asia Pacific regulatory authorities.

Dr William Hunter, CEO of Canary Medical, said “After almost a decade of development and designation by FDA as a Breakthrough Device, we’re proud that our CANARY canturio™ te technology has enabled Zimmer Biomet to debut the world’s first smart knee implant. Persona IQ reflects our shared belief that automatic, reliable and accurate data collection and analysis represents the future of orthopaedic care.”

“Historically, surgeons relied on patient-reported metrics during intermittent post-op follow up visits to assess the quality and pace of recovery from knee replacement surgery. Now, with physiological tools to support remote monitoring technologies like mymobility, and smart implants like Persona IQ, we can actively monitor patient recovery and rely on real-world, objective data to supplement patient care,” said Dr Peter Sculco, orthopaedic surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

“In addition, providing patients with access to their own mobility data will allow them the opportunity to be engaged in their recovery in a new way.”

“Zimmer Biomet has a strong heritage of delivering revolutionary innovations that can transform the surgical experience and enable data-supported patient care,” said Ivan Tornos, Chief Operating Officer of Zimmer Biomet.

“The post-operative data captured by Persona IQ, together with the wealth of pre- and post-operative data collected by the mymobility platform, will provide surgeons with an exceptional level of objective and comparative data intelligence.”

Persona IQ features the CANARY canturio™ te Tibial Extension proprietary implantable sensor developed by Canary Medical. The sensor technology was licensed by Zimmer Biomet through an exclusive partnership agreement with Canary Medical to develop first-to-market smart orthopaedic implants to support remote monitoring and tracking of patient recovery metrics. The CANARY canturio^TM te uses the same material and technology found in implanted cardiac devices such as pacemakers. The sensor is powered by a battery with a lifespan of up to 10 years, so patients will not need to charge the device. In addition, as an implanted technology, data is collected passively and does not rely on daily patient compliance to ensure information is captured by Persona IQ.