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Orthocare Innovations Initiates Compas™ Production in Oklahoma City

Associated Press
July 08, 2009

By TIM TALLEY

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A computer programmed with prosthetic alignment technology squeaked and chimed Wednesday as Michael Varro, an employee with the Department of Veterans Affairs, walked across a room on his prosthetic right leg.

The computer was responding to information transmitted from a new gait analysis system that detects misalignments in a prosthesis as a person walks with one, said David Boone, chief technology officer for Orthocare Innovations, which will soon manufacture the system in Oklahoma City.

'There's a little bit of change that we can optimize in his gait,' Boone said as Varro completed another pass across the room. Grabbing a wrench, Boone bent over and adjusted a couple of screws at the base of Varro's prosthetic leg to give his gait more of a right slope.

'This is pretty revolutionary,' Boone said as he demonstrated the system known as Compas™, a combination of hardware that attaches to prosthetic legs and computer software that helps clinicians adjust the devices for maximum efficiency and comfort. 'We can optimize care.'

Varro said: 'It really helps to have this instant feedback.'

The new technology will be particularly beneficial for veterans who lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan and want to resume normal activities, said retired Army Maj. Ed Pulido, who lost a leg in Iraq in 2004.

'We want to walk as well as we can,' Pulido said.

Making the new technology available to veterans is one way the government can support returning soldiers and give them the best medical care possible, he said.

Production of the Compas™ system is scheduled to begin in about a month, after Orthocare Innovation's relocates its research and development laboratory from Seattle, company officials said. The company's new corporate headquarters also will be in Oklahoma City.

A computer circuit device known as a Smart Pyramid™ that is permanently attached to a prosthetic leg will cost about $1,500. The cost of a Compas™ software system will be $6,500.

Boone described the technology as the most sophisticated device ever created in the field of prosthetics.

'This is just the start of where we're going,' he said.

Boone said Orthocare Innovation's is working with the VA to have the technology approved for injured soldiers.

About 1,000 soldiers have lost legs and other limbs in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, CEO Doug McCormack said.

Orthocare Innovation's relocated with the help of a $1.6 million grant from the state Economic Development Generating Excellence endowment, a fund created to stimulate technological innovation, diversify the state's economy and create jobs,

Company officials plan to employ about 115 people in Oklahoma City within three years.