Grand Rapids, Mich., December 7, 2022 — HAPPE Spine announces that Andrew Iott has accepted an offer to become the President and CEO. Mr. Iott brings over twenty years of experience in medical device product development and commercialization, with extensive knowledge of the spine market. As a co-founder of Globus Medical, Mr. Iott played a critical role in taking the company from a startup to a worldwide leader in orthopedics.
Dr. Ryan K. Roeder, Founder and CTO, said, “The fact that HAPPE has landed an experienced executive like Mr. Iott clearly speaks volumes for our value proposition.”
HAPPE is an emerging leader of next generation orthopaedic and spinal implants enabled by the HAPPE® (HydroxyApatite Porous PolyEtheretherketone) platform. The HAPPE material platform offers interconnected, cancellous porosity with exposed hydroxyapatite on pore surfaces to enable robust bone in-growth and on-growth confirmed in preclinical testing.
Mr. Iott said, “I am very excited to join the HAPPE Spine management team and continue the development of this innovative platform. The superior bone healing environment afforded by optimum biomechanical properties and a porous microstructure, that is fully integrated with hydroxyapatite, is a clear advancement in orthopedics.”
HAPPE is preparing to enter the market with the INTEGRATE®-C, a cervical interbody spinal fusion cage, to establish clinical efficacy.
Mr. Iott added, “I’m convinced that the spine and broader orthopaedic industry are looking for implants that make a leap forward in material science to provide an enhanced platform for osteointegration and HAPPE is that material. I am looking forward to working with this team to launch market disrupting products.”
About HAPPE Spine:
HAPPE Spine LLC is a medical device development company that designs and commercializes innovative orthopaedic and spinal implants utilizing the patented HydroxyApatite Porous PolyEtheretherketone (HAPPE®) material platform. HAPPE transforms polyetheretherketone from a hydrophobic, bioinert, and non-integrating material into a hydrophilic and osteointegrating material, confirmed by robust bone in-growth and on-growth in preclinical testing. The HAPPE INTEGRATE® interbody spinal fusion system is the first to offer bone-like cancellous porosity with exposed hydroxyapatite on the pore surfaces, as well as porosity extending across the entire implant height to promote endplate-to-endplate osteointegration. INTEGRATE is designed to promote both load bearing and healing, as well as superior post-operative imaging. The HAPPE INTEGRATE interbody fusion system thus offers allograft-like qualities in a synthetic implant that can improve clinical outcomes in interbody spinal fusion by overcoming the problems of pseudoarthrosis, subsidence and imaging artifacts that limit current PEEK and titanium implants.
Learn more about HAPPE Spine and HAPPE® material platform at happeortho.com.