Better ideas, Big Steps

Written by Janet Wheeler

Barry Townsend, CPO, and Byron Claudino have dedicated more than a decade of their lives to the invention of a product that has the potential to improve the quality-of-life for thousands of people around the world.

The effort is an outgrowth of careers working with patients in the field of prosthetics and orthotics. With nearly 50 years of combined experience working with lower-limb amputee patients, the co-founders of BioQuest Prosthetics understand the needs and frustrations of their patients.

The mechanics of artificial limbs have seen few changes throughout the course of history. Real improvements have only been made in recent years, starting with the SACH foot, developed in the mid-1950s. This foot gave patients more stability, but offered little lateral movement and didn’t respond well on uneven surfaces. Patients experienced more improvements in the 1980s, when the first energy-storing prostheses, made of carbon graphite materials, came onto market. These innovations offered substantial improvements to patient mobility, but they still performed far below the human body’s natural abilities. And the simple act of walking expended energy stores that left patients feeling fatigued.

Townsend and Claudino came to understand the underlying reason was in the basic design of these prostheses, which either used either a rigid pylon or an anterior concave shaft. Neither could effectively replicate the human walking system. Instead, they resulted in gait asymmetries that required compensation elsewhere in the body.

Townsend explains that humans essentially walk from heel-to-toe, with the ankle, knee, and hip all working together to create the power behind the effort. Their revolutionary design differed from other prosthesis models in its use of a reverse curvature shank. The design change had monumental effects, enabling patients to “walk with maximum efficiency and gait symmetry,” much as they would naturally.

The product that they would eventually market is called the PerfectStride II Extreme 3 (X3). It is an innovative prosthesis that provides lower limb amputee patients with remarkable mobility at a competitive cost. The product is lighter, more streamlined and more responsive than older prostheses, providing patients with a more comfortable and efficient experience.

BioQuest’s marketing materials explain that the product “replicates normal human foot and ankle function by allowing patients to conserve, store, and release energy. From heel strike to toe off, patients achieve increased gait velocity and gait symmetry, with the highest propulsion power ever achieved by a prosthetic foot.”

Since breaking into the market in 2007, BioQuest has received a mounting number of rave reviews from patients around the world.

Bakersfield Magazine first interviewed these inventors in 2004, soon after Townsend and Claudino formed BioQuest Prosthetics. The story prominently featured Townsend Designs, the company run by Barry’s brother, which to this day, handles marketing and sales of BioQuest’s products. At the time, their new prosthesis was still in the product development stage. Approximately 25 patients had been fitted with the prototype, and the response was universally positive.

The product’s potential was obvious, but coming up with an innovative product is only the first step to getting it to market.

“It costs between $700,000 and $1.2 million to bring a product to market, ” says Townsend. The amount covers the process from idea or concept to actual product, including initial inventory.

Cost is only one hurdle and there would be many more to leap, from independent documentation of the product’s functionality to patent protection, material testing, manufacturer selection, and hundreds of other details.

Townsend and Claudino spent five years transforming their concepts into a marketable product. One of the most important steps was to ensure that other prosthetic manufacturers couldn’t replicate their design. Townsend and Claudino have filed applications for 110 U.S. and foreign patents; 30 have been granted to date.

For production, they enlisted the services of a trusted mechanical engineer and a manufacturer in St. George, Utah. To be paid for their product, they had to secure Statistical Analysis Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (SADMERC) approval codes (Medicare and insurers use these codes to determine allowable claims). When these were approved in 2007, BioQuest was ready to take the PerfectStride II X3 into widespread distribution.

And to ensure their own high performance standards, BioQuest repeatedly submitted its products to rigorous testing. The products have exhibited superior performance from the beginning. In fact, the University of California Gait Lab determined the new device provided patients with as much as 86 percent of normal human kinetic power, far above the 36 percent or normal power achieved by older models.

As remarkable as this achievement may be, Townsend and Claudino continually work on ideas that will improve their products and patient’s lives.

To this end, BioQuest plans to launch a new generation of products this summer called the BioStride series, the new prostheses will be made completely of carbon, making them lighter in weight and longer-lasting than previous models. Changes to the basic design further improve functionality by allowing the prosthesis to perform more like the human ankle, providing freer motion and improved balance.

The manufacturer is currently making 50 sales samples for the BioStride series, which will be marketed throughout the U.S. plus Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The approval of two additional SADMERC codes for the new products will substantially increase BioQuest’s available market.

“We have tested [the new products] with eight patients, and the feedback is that they are really fluid,” says Townsend.

Chuck Wise is one of those test subjects. Wise has tested several BioQuest models over the past seven years, beginning with the prototype.

“I wouldn’t be without it,” says Wise. “I can walk so much better. I climb up and down ladders, carry long beams on my shoulders, and just keep going. I thought the titanium model was great, but the new strictly-graphite model is tremendous.”

Wise has been an amputee for 40 years and Townsend’s patient for the past 30 years. His life was altered in April 1970, when a ton of pipe fell and crushed his foot. Gangrene set in and his foot was amputated four inches below the knee. From the beginning, Wise was determined that the accident would not change the way he lived his life. He refused to dwell on his misfortune and continued working as a welder/pipe fitter through the mid-1980s, climbing up and down mountains while working on a cross-country pipeline. He achieved the rank of sixth degree black belt in the years following the amputation. And now, at the age of 64, Wise continues to lead an active life, serving as his church’s custodian.

Wise’s positive attitude has enabled him to live a full and active life. BioQuest made it a little easier.

“I have perfect balance, I don’t walk with a limp, and I can still kick,” adds Wise. “There are people at my church who still don’t know I have an artificial leg.”

The anonymity provided by BioQuest’s products is an attribute appreciated and cited independently by those we interviewed.

“No one gives you sympathy, because they can’t tell you have an artificial leg,” says Scott Falkenberg. “All of the others (lower-limb prostheses) have this weird hip thing that you really notice.”

Falkenberg had been an avid climber and skier for most of his life, and then three years ago, doctors discovered cancer in one of his ankles. He was given a standard prosthesis at UCLA, but its functionality limited his activities. Falkenberg wanted to get back to doing everything he was used to doing. He tried the PerfectStride II X3 and found that it provided the range and functionality that he required.

“You don’t have to have a special one for every activity. I’ve completed a half marathon. I play tennis; go on multi-day hikes, sprint, walk, and bike.

“I’ve also gone to product shows and have seen other companies come up to Barry trying to understand how the foot works.” Falkenberg provides the answer in three words: “It works great.”

Like Falkenberg, Wisconsin R.N. Cat Hammes also attends product shows. She first learned about BioQuest and the PerfectStride II X3 at an Amputee Coalition of America conference. She says she saw a marine wearing the device and his enthusiastic endorsement of the product prompted her to seek out Townsend, who was also attending the conference.

Hammes was an immediate convert, which is saying something since she had tried 19 other models in the previous four years.

“I wasn’t willing to settle for something mediocre,” she recalls. “I have a great prosthetic guy. I told him, when I find it, I’m going to know. Too many people think ‘this is the way it has to be; it’s going to hurt.’ It truly is not the way it has be.

“I don’t like being limited,” Hammes continues. “With [the PerfectStride II X3] I was able to walk up and down ramps, on uneven ground, and on gravel. There’s not a better one on the market.”

Hammes was one of the people selected to test BioQuest’s latest model. She wore it on a recent 2,000 mile cross-country trip, riding her Harley Davidson motorcycle from San Antonio, Texas to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She says she was able to climb up and down stairs, sit and stand without having to pull herself up. And just as important, she was able to pull up her Harley and shift the bike.

After putting it through the ultimate test, Hammes says excitedly, “the new one rocks!”

Article appeared in our 27-2 Issue - June 2010