Paris-Based Medical Device Manufacturer Locates U.S. Headquarters in Manatee County
Trod Medical S.A, a medical equipment manufacturer based in Paris, France, opened its U.S. headquarters in the Lakewood Ranch area of Manatee County in September. The Florida location will spearhead the company’s launch of its FDA-approved surgical device in early summer 2010 focusing in areas of urology, radiation oncology and interventional radiology according to Manfred Sablowski, vice president and COO of Trod Medical US LLC.
“The U.S. market is the largest market in the world for our Encage™ surgical device,” said Sablowski, who is originally from Frankfurt, Germany and now lives in Manatee County. “This area of Florida has the infrastructure we need.” Dr. Andre Faure, who is the world wide president and CEO of Trod Medical as well as a medical doctor and inventor of the Encage™ device, founded the company in Europe in 2006. He convinced Sablowski and Brook Peterson of Orlando, president and CEO of Trod Medical US LLC, to join him in the Trod Medical venture. Sablowski and Peterson each have more than 20 years of experience in the medical technology field. They met while working at a Pfizer unit in the United States.
Sablowski said that Trod is planning to hire distribution and office staff for the Manatee County office and distribution facility by mid 2010 and will also assemble a team of regional sales directors around the country. Trod expects to hire several employees initially for the Manatee location, he said.
“Manatee County is cultivating a cluster of medical equipment designers and manufacturers, and Trod’s entry from its European base is an exciting chapter in that story,” said Eric Basinger, executive director of the Economic Development Council (EDC), a division of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce. The EDC is assisting Trod with various business resources to help the company ramp up quickly. “Trod’s arrival is further evidence of Manatee County’s appeal to European businesses wanting to expand into the U.S. market. We look forward to the day when Trod Medical’s manufacturing operation also is located in our community.”
Trod’s patented Encage™ device gained FDA approval in October 2008, Sablowski said. The device is used to treat soft tissues involving the prostate, liver and kidney. It uses radio frequency technology to heat diseased tissue and halt its growth. The FDA approval was a key factor allowing the company to enter the U.S. market and open a U.S. facility, he said.
“There are so many medical equipment manufacturers in Europe that would love to enter the US market, but they don’t have the knowledge of how to go about getting FDA approval,” Sablowski said. “It is a difficult process, but we believe it will be well worth the effort because of the potential in the U.S. market.”
