Backed By Patent Protection, Medical Device Startup Gets Closer To Commercialization

GRAND RAPIDS — Securing patent protection boosts the chances of a startup company to land the financing needed to commercialize a physical therapy medical device that was developed at Spectrum Health.

The idea originated four years ago with physical therapists at Spectrum Health who wanted a better way to support frail or disabled patients during therapy. The therapists took their concepts to Spectrum Health Innovations LLC, a division of the Grand Rapids health system that vets and works to commercialize clinicians’ ideas that hold promise.

“When we started looking into it we said, ‘Hey, we think there’s something here,’” Spectrum Health Innovations President Brent Mulder said of the SafetySit device. “Through the process of design and innovation and going back and forth, we were able to come up with a pretty clever design.”