OrthoClip
Local Therapeutic Delivery for Orthopaedic and Spine Implants
The first technology spin-out from Palmetto Biomedical — a platform for preventing and treating implant-associated infection in fracture repair and spinal fusion.
A 30-Year Gap in Implant Infection Treatment
Implant-associated infection has been one of the most persistent unsolved problems in orthopaedic and spine surgery. Despite decades of research, no effective technology had been developed to prevent or treat infection around bone fracture repair or spinal fusion implants.
Systemic antibiotics alone are not sufficiently effective once infection takes hold around a metal implant. The standard of care — surgical re-exposure, irrigation, debridement, and prolonged antibiotic therapy — is aggressive, expensive, and still fails roughly 30% of the time. Infections that do persist become insidious and recurrent, often requiring multiple interventions over years.
The clinical need was clear. A better local delivery solution hadn't been built yet.
Delivering Treatment Directly Where It's Needed
OrthoClip developed a platform of novel drug delivery devices designed to attach simply and securely to fixation implants — metal plates or rods — at the time of surgery. Once attached, the device enables immediate and sustained local delivery of a preventive or therapeutic agent directly to the implant site.
The delivery module consists of a hollow polymeric reservoir that clips onto the implant and is filled with an appropriate carrier and antibiotic combination. Rather than relying on systemic therapy to reach the surgical site, OrthoClip targets treatment precisely where implant-associated infection originates — improving delivery, reducing systemic exposure, and addressing a failure mode that conventional treatment had never adequately solved.
The platform was designed to support a range of therapeutic agents and implant types, with initial focus on trauma plate applications and spinal fusion fixation for both human and veterinary markets.
A Protected Platform Built From the Ground Up
Dr. Boyd worked closely with patent counsel through every stage of OrthoClip's IP development. A U.S. patent application was filed in 2008, followed by U.S. utility and international PCT applications in 2009, and a continuation-in-part application in 2010 extending the concept to a broader range of implant applications.
One patent was issued to OrthoClip LLC. The core intellectual property — U.S. Patent 9,642,658, Device and Method for Delivery of Therapeutic Agents via Internal Implants — was developed through Palmetto Biomedical and later transferred to OrthoClip LLC as part of the spin-out venture formation.
The OrthoClip IP portfolio remains available for licensing.
From Clinical Insight to Protected Venture
OrthoClip reflects the full arc of Dr. Boyd's innovation process. He and surgeon collaborators identified the clinical gap, conceived the delivery approach, led the device design and prototype development, worked with patent counsel to build the IP portfolio, secured initial grant funding, co-wrote the business plan, and presented the venture to investor groups across the U.S.
He also designed the initial in vitro and small animal studies and wrote the NIH SBIR Phase I grant application — bringing the same rigor to preclinical planning that he applies in consulting and expert witness work.
OrthoClip was not a side project. It was a full venture built from a clinical problem that needed solving.
