Latest Medtech News
Blue Arbor Technologies, an Ann Arbor, Michigan company developing neuromuscular interfaces for prosthetic control, has closed a $10.5 million Series A led by its strategic partner Ottobock. Proceeds will fund completion of feasibility studies, an FDA Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) pursuit to support U.S. clinical studies of the RESTORE External Sensing Unit (ESU), and the start of development for the implantable RESTORE Internal Sensing Unit (ISU).
As an executive search partner to the MedTech industry, Guided Solutions keeps a close eye on stories like this one. Subscribe to our Industry Insights for weekly coverage.
The RESTORE Neuromuscular Interface System is designed to allow independent, simultaneous control of the fingers, wrist, and elbow of a prosthesis. The ESU is a wearable external interface, while the ISU is a fully implantable next-generation version. The company reports two human implantations to date, including a second-in-human procedure with the ESU at the Medical University of Vienna. Professor Oskar Aszmann, director of its Center for Bionic Extremity Reconstruction, said patients adapted “quickly and naturally.”
The technology has FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and is in the FDA’s TAP Pilot. It was also selected for a University of Michigan study, funded by an NIH UG3 grant, comparing surface and implanted electrodes for prosthetic control.
For Blue Arbor, having Ottobock lead the round ties it to a global prosthetics maker. Ottobock CEO Oliver Jakobi said the investment complements the company’s core business. For the broader MedTech space, the round reflects strategic investors backing neural interface technology that could improve how advanced prosthetics are controlled.
