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Leveraging the latest advances in medical technology to bring patients better orthotic devices faster than ever before

Param Shah is the co-founder and CEO of Fusiform Medical Devices. Fusiform is a medical technology startup that seeks to revolutionize orthotics—instruments, such as leg braces, that provide skeletal and muscular support. Fusiform’s approach combines 3D modeling with order tracking software to give customers custom-fabricated, durable orthotics faster than ever before. Earlier this year, the company was one of six chosen for Accelerate Baltimore’s incubator program. A Johns Hopkins University alumnus, Param also founded the Lotus Life Foundation: a nonprofit that offers medical intervention and education for children living with disabilities in rural India.

Param Shah spoke with Darren Weiss, a labor and employment attorney with Offit Kurman, for this interview.

DARREN WEISS: Can you give us the quick pitch for your FusiformCAST and FusiformSHAPE products?

PARAM SHAH: Fusiform’s ultimate goal is to get to the point where we have a machine within a clinic, and a patient walks in, you take a scan and you pop out the device on the spot, and that patient is walking out of the appointment with the device. This has never been done before in the industry and we’re going the full nine yards to get there. We do that through two product lines: the first being the FusiformCAST, which is a software solution; and FusiformSHAPE, which is our hardware solution. FusiformCAST represents the first stage in sort of this disruption in bringing that time from one month to the duration of the appointment. CAST is an online, in-browser application that allows a clinic, once a patient walks in, to take a 10-minute 3D scan. We personally endorse an iPad mounted scanner that only costs $300 as opposed to the $15,000-plus scanners currently on the market. They take a scan of the patient, upload that 3D scan into our CAST software, which is accessible through a web browser, and they not only fill out a digital order form for that device, but they can annotate the 3D model in space on the browser, saying, “At this point we want to address that this is a bony prominence” or “we want to add more material in this space because it needs more support.” They can live-message in between their central fabricator who’s making that device in the end, and the central fabricator can also message back to the clinic. Creating this collaborative environment definitely speeds things up, because less mistakes are occurring. Everything is digital, so there are no handwritten order forms, there’s no plaster. In the end, a proper, correct device is getting to that patient in a very efficient way.

What’s the status of your FusiformCAST beta testing?

We already have four or five clinic partners that are beta testing this as well as one large central fabricator who has endorsed the product and we will be launching this in May. That’s the first stage of the disruption to get to that ultimate solution. The second stage is the hardware, FusiformSHAPE. Now, FusiformSHAPE is a hardware device: an orthotic that’s built in components. Right now, every orthotic is a solid piece. Our device is made out of multiple pieces that are connected together sort of like Legos. We have two routes with that. We can prefabricate several components that clinics can then order in bulk, and a patient simply walks into the appointment, you find the closest-fit pieces and then you match them together, lock in the device, mold it using a heat gun, and the patient is walking out of the appointment with their device. The other route, and more moving towards our ultimate solution, is that they can put a 3D scan into our software and our software will actually form a device around that anatomical form and produce a fully custom device for them. The ultimate goal is that we put a machine, a 3D printer or other sort of machining device, within the clinic and all they have to do is put that scan into the software and then they’ll print out a device while the patient is in the waiting room.

Connect with Param on LinkedIn

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