Utah Innovation Awards Winner

Sandy, UT—CoNextions Medical (conextionsmed.com) was awarded the Utah Innovation Award in the Life Sciences – Medical Device category for their new suture-less tendon repair technology at the 13th Annual Utah Innovation Awards hosted on April 30, 2015.

“We are honored to be the recipient of this prestigious award,” said Rich Linder, CEO and President of CoNextions.  “We believe this new technology will provide better outcomes to the 580,000 tendon repair patients that are treated on an annual basis in the United States alone.”

The novel CoNextions device is designed to achieve safer, stronger and more durable tendon repairs marked by faster rehabilitation, fewer complications, and lower long-term costs than traditional suture-based repairs. With stronger primary repair, the device enables early mobility, which reduces adhesions, ruptures and triggering.

CoNextions Medical was founded in 2011 by Erik Kubiak, M.D., Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Utah, and by Rich Linder, an experienced life science medical device entrepreneur. As an Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon, Dr. Kubiak experienced firsthand the multiple challenges with the current standard of care for tendon repair, and he set out to discover a better way to solve this clinical dilemma. Partnering with Mr. Linder, the two built CoNextions Medical with the main objective of dramatically improving patient outcomes and the health economics of tendon repair worldwide. 

“Tendons have been repaired in the same fashion for well over 50 years,” said Dr. Kubiak. “There has been little innovation to address an injury that impacts so many, and even with high complication rates and variable outcomes, sutures have remained the only commercially viable alternative in tendon repair.”

Initial testing of the CoNextions tendon repair device indicates the device will produce substantially better outcomes than suturing, long considered the standard of care tendon repair technique.

CoNextions Medical plans to apply for regulatory clearance through a 510(k) submission to the Food and Drug Administration in 2015. Concurrently, the company will file for CE Mark in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Founded in 2011, CoNextions Medical is a privately-held company located in Sandy, Utah. They are an innovation-based medical device company dedicated to achieving safer, stronger, and more durable tendon repairs worldwide marked by faster rehabilitation, fewer complications, and lower long-term costs. For additional information about CoNextions, please contact Angela Bailey, Senior Vice President of Marketing at (801) 580-4049 or at [email protected].