ATLANTA, Aug. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TendoNova Corporation is pleased to announce that it has been selected for the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Phase III commercialization program. The program, which provides debt funding of up to $250,000, is designed to help Georgia-based companies move toward commercialization. TendoNova is an Atlanta-based digital heath company that develops devices that enable and manage microinvasive orthopedic procedures.
“The Georgia Research Alliance continues to support TendoNova through this latest program, building on two previous GRA grants to Emory University,” said Mark Samuels, TendoNova’s CEO. “We are extremely grateful for this vote of confidence and are working to launch the Ocelot™ system in early 2022.”
TendoNova has also received funding from the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) through its for-profit subsidiary NFL Players Inc.
“TendoNova is a young company that has a lot going for it,” said Lee Herron, GRA’s Vice President for Venture Development. “It has a unique, easy-to-use device and procedure that fills a major gap in the minimally invasive treatment of a chronic ailment. It also offers insurers an attractive alternative to other surgical options. Both of these give the company significant market potential.”
TendoNova has a pending application with the FDA for the Ocelot TDS 1000 system, a surgical tool that addresses chronic tendon pain, a prevalent condition in both athletes and the population at large. Longer term, TendoNova plans to provide physician guidance and procedure enhancement through a proprietary cloud-based procedure feedback system.
Approximately 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from chronic tendon pain each year. This includes injuries such as tennis elbow, Achilles tendinosis, and patellar tendon pain. These conditions are prevalent in NFL players, weekend warriors, and anyone else who engages in repetitive tasks. If left untreated, chronic tendon pain can lead to months or years of pain and even career-ending injuries.
Founded in 2017, TendoNova combines decades of regenerative medicine know-how with potential to use modern data analytics to enhance in-office procedures to treat chronic tendon pain. The Ocelot System performs a controlled mechanical fenestration and/or debridement of a diseased tendon. Similar techniques are commonly used to encourage the growth of healthy tendon to replace painful lesions. These methods of treating chronic tendon pain, such as using a needle to poke holes in a tendon, rely heavily on clinician skill and are expensive, invasive, or have inconsistent outcomes. This leaves patients and physicians with limited viable treatment options for patients that fail to heal. TendoNova’s Ocelot System is designed to be easy to use and cost effective and has the potential to provide real-time data that enhances the clinician’s skill. By making treatment of chronic tendon pain more accessible and reliable, TendoNova plans to bring surgical level care to the office and training room.
About the Georgia Research Alliance
The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) helps Georgia’s university scientists do more research and start more companies. By expanding research and entrepreneurship capacity at public and private universities, GRA grows the Georgia economy by driving more investment in the state; developing a high-tech workforce; and strengthening Georgia’s reputation for innovation.
For 30 years, GRA has worked in partnership with the University System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Economic Development to create the companies and jobs of Georgia’s future. Visit www.GRA.org for more information.
About TendoNova
Founded in 2017, TendoNova is a medical device company whose initial product is the Ocelot™ system, a patented, leading-edge device and digital health solution built to bring surgical level care to the physician office. Designed to allow physicians more choices in treating chronic tendon pains such as tennis elbow and plantar fasciitis, the Ocelot System has the potential to lower both the recovery time and patient cost by bringing a proven treatment methodology into the physician office setting. Learn more at www.tendonova.com.