Medical device and technology company Lazurite Holdings LLC announced that its modular ArthroFree™ wireless arthroscopic camera system has been recognized by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sport Medicine (AOSSM) as a winner of its inaugural annual ACE (Accelerating the Cutting Edge) Award recognizing cutting-edge innovation in the field of orthopedic sports medicine.
This highly competitive award was judged by a panel of distinguished doctors and AOSSM members.
The award results were announced at the combined annual meeting of AOSSM and the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) held at Music City Center in Nashville. The event attracted more than 1,600 international surgeon attendees.
The ACE Award guidelines indicate that the competitive award represents AOSSM’s “recognition of industry partners’ contribution to the field and the importance of corporate innovations that impact our members and their patients.” In addition to ArthroFree, GraftNet by Arthrex and BioBrace by BioRez were also recognized.
“We are tremendously excited and proud to receive this inaugural award, especially at our first exhibition of ArthroFree,” Lazurite’s Chief Executive Officer and founder Eugene Malinskiy said. “It’s very gratifying to have met with so many enthusiastic visitors at our booth. Conference attendees demoed our pre-production models of ArthroFree, met with our team, and also had the opportunity to speak directly with several physician champions who were at our booth with us.”
The ArthroFree system is expected to be the world’s first FDA-approved fully wireless, minimally invasive camera system for the operating room. The modular system incorporates the company’s proprietary low heat, high intensity Meridiem™ light engine technology along with advanced camera, battery, and wireless transmission technologies. ArthroFree is designed to deliver improved operating room productivity, patient safety, and economic value through cost-savings, energy efficiency and reduced setup/breakdown times. And the ArthroFree system is designed to be fully drop-in compatible with current operating room technology.
Mark Froimson, MD, Chair of the Board of Managers of Lazurite, said, “Our experience exhibiting at this event along with this prestigious award mark the start of a new phase for ArthroFree on our path to gaining FDA clearance and launching this transformational new product. It’s always exciting to see surgeons’ reactions when they first experience this game-changing, innovative technology. As a result of winning this award, I think a lot more surgeons are going to want to experience the ArthroFree system in the coming months.”
The ArthroFree™ wireless arthroscopic camera system has not yet received FDA clearance and is not currently approved for human use. It is not intended for commercial distribution; orders cannot be accepted at this time. The company plans to submit its 510(k) premarket notification in late 2021 and expects to receive FDA approval to launch the product in the first half of 2022.