Halifax Biomedical Opens U.S. Office in Massachusetts

Halifax Biomedical Inc. (HBI), a Nova Scotia-based company that specializes in precision assessment of spine and joint-replacement micro-instability, opened its first U.S. office at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Cambridge, Mass. The opening of Halifax’s new location follows a recent trade mission to Canada by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

“Boston is home to several of the best orthopedic spine research hospitals in the United States,” said Chad Munro, CEO of Halifax Biomedical. “With our expanding International customer base and plans for a multi-center clinical validation of our spine diagnostics, the time to open a U.S. location was right, and Boston was the best location to center this growth. There is growing pressure from payers for evidence to support orthopedic surgical interventions. This has resulted in increased demand for our technology. In particular our spine diagnostics, which can help provide better pre-operative information for spine treatment decisions.”

The Massachusetts location will allow HBI to more effectively work with its financial partners and customers as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as its products move through the approval process.

“Thanks to our growth strategy of investing in education, innovation and infrastructure, Massachusetts continues to lead the world in life sciences,” said Patrick. “We welcome Halifax Biomedical Inc. to Massachusetts and look forward to their contributions to our thriving life-sciences community.”

“The commonwealth [of Massachusetts] has a strong diagnostics sector, and a technology-oriented workforce that will provide a depth of talent for Halifax Biomedical as they grow their business here,” said Susan Windham Bannister, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the agency charged with implementing Governor Patrick’s 10-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative. The center has been in dialogue with Halifax Biomedical as the company developed its plans for U.S. expansion.

Halifax Biomedical’s technology uses stereo radiography imaging technology. The company focuses on two clinical problems: detection of implant loosening for total hip and knee replacements, and quantification of instability of the spinal column in patients with chronic low-back pain.