ProSpon - at present
The company ProSpon, s. r. o. (the Czech equivalent of a limited-liability company or LLC) was founded in 1992 in the city of Kladno and from the very beginning it has been focused on developing, manufacturing and selling medical devices for orthopaedics, traumatology and oncology. The main activities in this field are currently the replacements of all major human joints for orthopaedics and oncology. Additionally, the company produces small joint replacements, external fixators, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction implants and instruments, spinal fixators, individual implants, OEM products and also veterinary implants. The range of products includes more than 5,000 items, nearly 50% of production goes abroad. ProSpon also acts in the Czech Republic as a distributor for selected foreign producers. Currently, it is primarily a Korean company JEIL Medical Corporation (maxillofacial surgery) and a French company Teknimed (bone cement, absorbable screws).
The company is currently established in 80% of clinical workplaces in the Czech Republic (which covers approx. 50% of the Czech market for external fixators). Each of the customers, which are mainly state hospitals, takes a different structure of items from the company's product portfolio. ProSpon sells its products ,including the individual replacements, also on foreign markets - e.g. Slovakia, Poland, some Russian-speaking countries, the Baltic states, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain, and in Morocco. For the Polish clinics the company has already manufactured several unique replacements, including a sacrum implant created by 3D printing and a complete replacement of the leg bones from the ankle to the hip joint.
The company's strategy is to develop, manufacture and distribute high quality but affordable medical devices in a wide range of products. A priority of the company's strategy is research and development activities, which also includes partnering with the academic sector. These collaborative partners include Czech Technical University in Prague, Brno University of Technology, Technical University of Ostrava, University of Chemistry and Technology, Czech Academy of Sciences, First Faculty of Medicine Charles University and University Hospital Ostrava. ProSpon has developed the vast majority of its products which it currently produces in series and intends to continue this strategy in the future. The results of research projects which the company has already completed are very well-utilised in the target markets.
In 2014, the company successfully entered the field of additive manufacturing from metal by purchasing Concept Laser´s M2 Cusing machine (Direct Metal Laser Sintering method). This 3D printing technology, which can even be used for manufacturing complex structures from titanium and its alloys (materials widely used in the field of implant-type medical devices) has consolidated the company´s position among the Czech leading workplaces for applied research and development. The gradual mastery of this complex and demanding technology brought the company a competitive advantage and enables the company to keep up with the latest global trends in the field and to cooperate with other, not only Czech, leading workplaces. Together with the use of 3D modeling software and experienced specialists, this enabled the development and efficient production of advanced, not only, individual replacements and tools, comparable to the production of the world's leading companies. Currently, these replacements from the Czech company help patients not only in the Czech Republic, but also globally.