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Duo of Dougs Lead Orthocare Innovations Mission to Improve Prosthetics

Doug McCormack, CEO

by Brian Bruse

OKLAHOMA CITY - Orthocare Innovations continued growth spurt with the naming of Doug Wallace as chief operating officer this month is slightly misleading - Chief Executive Doug McCormack was setting gears in motion far ahead of the prosthetics company's launch in late 2007.

Before Orthocare Innovations, McCormack had been practicing law in Washington in public policy and health care. As an amputee himself, losing a leg to cancer 25 years ago, McCormack served as vice president and legal counsel for the nonprofit Amputee Coalition of America.

"He's had extensive experience working with many prosthetic companies for years before this," company spokeswoman Carol Sorrels said. "So he's been planning and laying the groundwork for this, including company acquisitions in Seattle and Martin Bionics (in Oklahoma City). ... In addition to our elder care work, we're also working with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, DARPA, a $30.4 million prosthetic research program. So we have lots of different streams that he's been working on that are converging; it looks like a lot of growth all at once."

Orthocare Innovations is a medical device research and product development company, with a focus on developing technology in rehabilitation and elder care. Product development lines include prosthetics, activity monitoring systems and fall-prevention technology.

McCormack said prosthetics companies in the United States have focused primarily on commercialization of existing technology. But the two biggest prosthetics manufacturers are in Germany in Iceland, and European companies are much more inclusive of all stages of product development.

"What we think is lacking in the U.S. is a fully integrated approach to research, development, product creation and commercialization," he said.

"If you equate this to the pharmaceutical market, the European players are similar to the Mercks and Pfizers of the world while the U.S. players are the generics. We want to turn that model on its head and create the only integrated, innovated prosthetic manufacturer-R&D company in the United States.

"We think that Oklahoma is an important part of this strategy, and we envision really building up a base very significantly," he said.

"We want to build out Oklahoma City as a focal point for our company and for the field nationally."

The company is based in Oklahoma City, but has research facilities in Seattle, previously Cyma Corp., Orthocare Innovation's first acquisition.

The company's growth has been driven largely by funds from licenses and grants, Sorrels said. Among its assets are the patents for StepWatch™ Gait Activity Monitor and Pressure Ulcer Condition Sensing and Monitoring System. Orthocare Innovations also has patents pending for Compas™, a computerized prosthesis alignment system, and a nanotech materials application.

Wallace, who will operate out of the company's new Washington, D.C., office, has served as chief financial officer for several venture-backed software companies, including ePals, Ruckus Networks, and WildTangent, and also has worked in investment banking for Bank of America.

"Doug Wallace is a proven tech-sector executive with the skills and experience that round out our senior management team and position us to execute the next phase of our strategic growth plan," McCormack said.

"We are very fortunate that Doug has joined our team, further validating our emergence as a premier research, development and commercialization company."

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