HealthpointCapital, a private equity firm focused exclusively on musculoskeletal healthcare, today announced the acquisition of a majority stake in SteriCUBE Holdings.
The SteriCUBE Multiple Tray Sterilization (MTS) System is a patented, environmentally friendly technology for simultaneous sterilization of instrument-holding trays. These trays are utilized to organize and protect the numerous instruments required in common orthopedic and cardiac surgeries.
For over 75 years, hospitals have wrapped sterilized instrument trays with polypropylene and paper material, commonly known as "blue wrap," to maintain a barrier from the outside air. Each tray is hand-wrapped with two layers, generally utilizing 18 to 32 square feet of material. Multiple trays are required per surgery, and the disposable wraps are discarded after a single use, accounting for 20% of all operating room waste, or an estimated 255 million pounds annually. Blue wrap is also susceptible to perforations that render the encased instruments dangerously unsterile. When perforations are found, estimated to more than 10% of the time, surgical cases are routinely delayed at significant cost.
Instead of individually wrapping trays with disposable blue wrap, the SteriCUBE system utilizes a single, filtered metal container to store all trays for a surgical case and allow simultaneous sterilization. By eliminating blue wrap, SteriCUBE negates perforation concerns, drives substantial cost savings, reduces bio-hazardous waste, and significantly improves workflow efficiency of the daily sterilization processes within the world's hospitals.
The SteriCUBE technology is covered by over 20 patents in the US and internationally, with additional patent applications pending. The system is FDA-cleared in the U.S. for both on-site and off-site sterilization, including transport, thus making it suitable for Ambulatory Surgical Centers lacking on-site sterilizers.
