SV Special Bulletin

Defender Announces Groundbreaking Partnership to Deliver Platform for Patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcers

At the DFCon 2024 Conference in Los Angeles, Defender announced joining forces with Anderson Medical Supplies, AlexiGen, Sensoria Health, Inc. on a groundbreaking partnership aimed at providing an alternative to amputation for patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs). The Defender DFU Platform provides Footwear as a Service (FAAS) to help patients heal better and faster, avoiding amputations.

Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs) affect approximately 18.6 million people worldwide each year, including 2 million new cases every year in the United States alone. DFUs are a recurring, chronic health problem, not just one-time events: over 85% of DFU patients experience a recurrence within 5 years. And DFUs often lead to complications and profound, life-altering disabilities: in the US alone, over 130,000 amputations each year are tied to diabetes.

Currently, there are no therapies to cure peripheral neuropathy, so patients with DFUs often continue to apply pressure to damaged areas, typically by walking. Offloading devices are essential for reducing this pressure and promoting healing. Defender has created a better way to heal DFUs: the sensor-enabled Smart Boot™ features 8 advanced offloading technologies in a user-friendly design, significantly lowering abnormal forces on the foot and healing DFUs in 5.3 weeks or less.

With an entire suite of products, and cloud services for capturing and monitoring patient data, CEO Dr. Jason Hanft and his team are creating a comprehensive disease management platform for patients with DFUs. Defender’s platform generates recurring revenue through continuous product and service engagement throughout a patient’s life: projected lifetime value potentially exceeds $50K per patient, depending on wound recurrence and products sold.

Defender manages the entire lifecycle of DFUs with a complete array of solutions and sensor-enabled smart technology:

• The Foot Defender®, the initial product in the platform, has been used by over 20,000 patients and is on track for 2024 revenues of $2.2MM (50% growth vs. 2023), and projected 2025 revenues over $3.2MM

• The Smart Boot's™ built-in sensor and remote monitoring technology ensures patient compliance, helping DFUs heal up to 66% faster than other treatment modalities

• Defender holds 10 patents, with many more pending, and the Foot Defender® contains 8 pieces of pressure-offloading technology

• Direct-to-patient sales, with 50%+ monthly growth over the past 4 months alone, is proving the most efficient, effective, and profitable way to capture patients 

  
  

Defender is now raising $6MM to rapidly scale direct-to-patient sales, add sales reps, expand the platform, and continue R&D. For more information, click here or contact Tony Coretto at tcoretto@svrglobal.com to set up a time to speak with Dr. Hanft.