Össur

History

Össur was founded in Iceland in 1971 by Össur Kristinsson, a prosthetist. His family owned the company until 1999, when it went public and was listed on the Iceland Stock Exchange. Initially, the company served only the domestic Icelandic market, and then began to export in 1986. It currently employs around 2,300 staff in 18 locations.

In 2006, the company was named as a "technology pioneer" by the World Economic Forum.

Acquisitions

Since 2000, Össur has acquired 15 companies. The Gibaud Group operates autonomously.

Research and development

Össur operates five research and development (R&D) departments in four countries, employing 76 people. In-house R&D also partners with third parties, including universities and research companies. In 2007, R&D investment amounted to 6 percent of the company’s total sales. The same year, 22 US patents were granted to Össur and 37 new applications filed. At the end of the year, Össur had 218 US, 26 European, and 103 granted international patents in its portfolio, together with 119 US and 239 pending applications world.

Products

The company operates in three markets: bracing & support, compression therapy, and prosthetics including bionics technology. It manufactures a range of braces and support products for arms, legs, and torso. Products include Unloader One, a brace that provides mechanical support to reduce the knee pain caused by osteoarthritis. It's designed to separate bones when ligaments and cartilage are damaged, and to prevent further damage to the joint. The firm also makes the CTi (formerly sold as the CTi2), a ligament brace for knees used for both rehabilitation and for injury prevention, as well as cervical collars.

Össur entered the compression therapy segment with the acquisition of the French company Gibaud. Products include bandages, tights, stockings, knee highs and stump socks.

Prosthetics

Össur manufactures prosthetic limbs and joints, liners, sockets, locks and sleeves. Its products include Flex-Foot, a prosthetic foot made from carbon fiber, a material used in the aerospace industry for its strength and flexibility. The Flex-Foot Cheetah developed by medical engineer Van Phillips and worn by Alan Oliveira and other amputee athletes is a derivative of this product line. Össur also produces the Total Knee prosthetic, which possesses a "locking moment" which keeps the knee from collapsing when it is in full extension, Mauch Knee, which has a hydraulic system for fluid and natural gait, and Iceross silicone prosthetic liners, which provide an interface between the skin and the socket.

The company's bionic technology platform is designed to restore anatomical function displaced by amputation by using intelligent structures in products that can respond in a human-like way. The division's products are Rheo Knee, a microprocessor swing and stance knee system which utilizes artificial intelligence, Power Knee, which works as an integrated extension of its user, synchronizing motion with that of the sound leg using motor power, and Proprio Foot, an intelligent and motor-powered foot module.

Össur has been developing a bionic limb controlled using implanted myoelectric sensors developed by the Alfred Mann Foundation. One patient has used the limb for over a year, and reports a positive experience. Ossur says that the implantable control sensors will be a technology upgrade for its prosthetics in three to five years.

Sponsorship

The firm's "Team Össur" comprises international athletes and performers and professionals who use Össur prosthetics. Under this program, Össur is a major sponsor of disabled athletes, including Paralympians and world record holders Sarah Reinertsen, Jody Cundy and Rudy Garcia-Tolson. The company has also sponsored Paralympian runner Brian Frasure, now a certified prosthetist and mentor to Oscar Pistorius, and Mike McNaughton, a Staff Sergeant in the Louisiana Army National Guard who lost his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan and was subsequently awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.