Current medical implants are often coated with antibiotics or biocides. But these do not work adequately and furthermore leak into the body and the environment. The startup Bioprex Medical makes coatings that solve both problems.

‘A patient receiving an implant, such as a pacemaker or a knee prosthesis, has a 1-5% chance of infection,’ says Ton Loontjens, emeritus professor of polymer chemistry at the University of Groningen. ‘For catheters that remain in place for a month, it is even 100%. Often antibiotics or the immune system itself can handle such an infection, but sometimes the implant has to be removed.’

‘Implant manufacturers are unanimously enthusiastic’

This is inconvenient for the patient and a burden on society, Loontjens stresses. Moreover, such an infection can be fatal for people with poor health. In short, there had to be a solution. Which Bioprex Medical thinks it has found. Loontjens is CTO of this company, which was founded on 28 August 2022.