‘We Innovate On All Floors’: Hyprevention SAS, a French Company, Offers a Disruptive Innovation Addressing an Unmet Clinical Need

“Our vision is to become the leader in bone reinforcement to prevent and treat osteoporotic and pathologic fractures.”

Of all the types of osteoporotic fracture, hip fracture is a major public health problem among the elderly population. This type of fracture usually occurs as a result of a low-impact fall in individuals with underlying bone fragility due to osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a common bone disease, affecting millions of patients across the world.

In view of the above-mentioned scenario, we’re delighted to present Hyprevention SAS.

The company develops, manufactures, and sells implantable medical devices for the prevention of hip fractures. It offers Y-STRUT^®, a preventive implant for seniors to avoid a hip fracture. Hyprevention SAS offers its products through distributors.

The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Pessac, France.

Cécile VIENNEY, Hyprevention SAS Co-founder/CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. Why was the company set up?

Three orthopaedic surgeons after seeing more and more patients coming back to their hospital with a second fracture leading to a long hospitalization, comorbidities and dependencies – get the idea of a hip reinforcement device to prevent the second hip fracture on elderly people having a first low energy hip fracture. That’s how Hyprevention SAS was set up.

Q. Tell us about your first product that was launched.

Y-STRUT^® is an implantable medical device intended to reinforce the bone in order to prevent hip fracture in case of severe osteoporosis and risk of falling or in case of bone metastasis.

The device is a disruptive innovation that requires a long time for adoption. However, it does answer a major worldwide public health issue that is osteoporosis and its consequences on the quality of life of the patient who undergoes fracture, as mentioned above.

Y-STRUT^® is today marketed in Europe, Israel and Brazil, after receiving regulatory approvals.

Q. What were the grounds on which you have expanded your company and its offerings over the years?

Following 10 years’ experience at STRYKER and two years in the start-up VEXIM, it was time for me to create my own company. I had the chance to meet orthopaedic surgeons who had a great idea addressing a real clinical need. The doctors are the ones who better understand and identify the clinical need for the patients they take care. As Hyprevention is enlarging its network of surgeons, more clinical needs are identified in our field of competence and we are willing to expand our product range to address such major needs.

Q. What is your company’s position in the market, currently?

We are the first on the market with a unique solution to prevent the risk of hip fracture. We want to continue to expand our product selling in Europe before applying for US product registration.

Q. What are the factors that make your company stand out from the competition?

Hyprevention has developed the unique STRUTPLASTY^® technique aiming to reinforce the bone thanks to polymer implants combined with bone cement. This technology is dedicated to poor quality bone and is aiming to change the life of elderly people by avoiding hip fracture and its dramatic consequences for millions of people.

We are happy and proud to work with the medical and scientific community, that consists of orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists, geriatricians, interventional radiologists and oncologists, to support our technology.

Q. How often do you innovate?

We innovate on all floors! Indeed, the trigger is the market need. But then, as a start-up, we need to innovate in our marketing strategy, product positioning, budget management etc.

Q. Do you have any new products ready to be rolled out into the market?

A second product V-STRUT© indicated to treat vertebral compression fracture will be launched in Europe in 2020 and we will apply for the product registration in the USA as well.

Q. Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Our ambition is to sell our STRUTPLASTY^® products all over Europe and USA. Then we will target Asia, where the elderly population is huge and osteoporosis a major burden.

Cécile VIENNEY: A Brief Background

Cécile VIENNEY manages successfully Hyprevention by achieving successive milestones: product development (Y-STRUT^® and V-STRUT©), patents approval, clinical history, CE marking, ISO certification, funds raising, direct sales in France, distribution agreements signed abroad.

Cécile was COO at VEXIM SAS, a French start-up located in Toulouse for a period of two years. She has developed the operational activities and led her team to the product CE marking, company certification ISO 13485, and the mass production allowing the product launch.

Previously, Cécile was Global Program Manager at STRYKER Spine, located in Bordeaux-France for a period of 10 years. She had developed numerous spine products, integrated products from acquisition and permitted regulatory extension to enlarge product distribution.

Cécile contributes to numerous patents that made valuable products on the market for STRYKER, VEXIM and Hyprevention.

“Our mission is to develop implantable medical devices to address unmet clinical needs in the field of osteoporosis and bone metastatic.”