Patrick Treacy founded Onkos Surgical in 2015 with the purpose of “Our Why.” The simple mission statement means that he and the company believe that individuals with cancer and other complex orthopedic conditions deserve solutions that are tailored specifically to them.

Patrick began his career as a product development engineer with Howmedica, which later became Stryker Orthopedics. He progressed through various roles in R&D, marketing, and general management as head of Stryker’s global knee franchise. There, he developed a passion for advancing musculoskeletal oncology and complex orthopedics, recognizing the necessity for unique, personalized solutions for surgeons and patients.

Before founding Onkos, Patrick was president of PDI Healthcare. He earned a BSME in mechanical engineering from Villanova University and has multiple implant and instrument design patents in orthopedic surgery.

The company’s flagship ELEOS limb salvage system received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in 2016. The device was cleared to treat patients with significant bone loss due to cancer, trauma, or previous surgical procedures.

“Surgical oncology has been an underserved market for some time,” Patrick said in a press release announcing the FDA nod. “These surgeons and patients deserve more. With the introduction of the ELEOS Limb Salvage System, we will continue to build on our promise of delivering meaningful innovation in the orthopedic oncology market.”

Two years later, the company released its uDesign personalized surgical planning and MyTray workflow solutions to bring simplified, surgeon- and patient-specific planning to limb salvage cases. 2019 saw a new segmental stem portfolio and streamlined instrumentation, and 2020 witnessed the ELEOS proximal femoral replacement to support soft tissue fixation and the adjacent planes where soft tissue failures are a common challenge.

A year later came the BioGrip proximal tibia replacement, the first 3D-printed limb salvage implant, as well as the BioGrip modular collar to support bone ingrowth where aseptic loosening failures are common. The My3D Pelvis, a novel 3D-printed and patient-specific option for advanced pelvic reconstruction, followed with an FDA nod in 2022. That year, Onkos also acquired Stryker’s Juvenile Tumor System (JTS), which enables limb stabilization and growth in pediatric patients affected by bone cancers, severe arthropathy, and severe trauma, revisions, oncology, and malignant diseases. The company launched the JTS extendible prosthesis in 2023 along with the unveiling of a new manufacturing and R&D innovation center at its Parsippany, N.J., headquarters.

In 2024, the company won FDA De Novo approval for its antibacterial-coated implants. Dubbed NanoCept, the antibacterial technology arms patients with protection against implant infections. The antibacterial coating is applied to orthopedic implants to help address intraoperative bacterial contamination. The first surgeries with the NanoCept-coated implants took place in February 2025.

Orthopedic implant-related infections are clinically challenging and have significant negative effects on patients. Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) has a lower survival rate than several forms of cancer¹ and is expected to cost the U.S. healthcare system up to $1.8 billion dollars by 2030.² It is estimated that 60% to 70% of all early and delayed-onset PJI (<3 months and 12-24 months post-surgery) are initiated at the time of the procedure through intraoperative contamination.³

Patrick spoke to Orthopedic Design & Technology about NanoCept, as well as bacterial contamination strategies in the operating room and the company’s future.

Sam Brusco: How does the industry fall short regarding bacterial contamination in the OR?

Patrick Treacy: Bacterial contamination of orthopedic implants in the OR is a highly complex and multifactorial problem. Over the years, numerous sterile techniques, protocols, and solutions have been developed and implemented with the intent to address this issue. Even with these advancements, bacterial contamination of implants in the operating room remains an issue. There has been little in the way of orthopedic industry innovation specifically designed to protect the implant, which we at Onkos set out to address.

Brusco: What strategies can be used to improve this?

Treacy: Traditional strategies to help reduce contamination in the OR environment include patient draping, skin preparation solutions, gowning, double gloving, air flow systems, UV light, and traffic control. Despite these strategies, bacteria still remain present in the OR.

NanoCept is the first and only antibacterial-implant technology available on the U.S. market which offers an integrated approach to protect against intraoperative bacterial contamination, a crucial advancement in the field of orthopedic implants. All of the above strategies must be enacted actively, trained on, and performed properly.

Brusco: What is NanoCept and how does it improve bacterial contamination control strategies in the OR?

Treacy: The technology is a nanoscale (75 nanometer) coating applied to our ELEOS Limb Salvage System that protects the implant from bacteria that deposit on its surface. To add some perspective, a human hair is approximately 100,000 nanometers thick. When bacteria deposit on the implant, the cell wall is disrupted by the coating technology, causing bacterial lysis. In pre-clinical tests supporting the FDA market authorization, NanoCept demonstrated up to a 99.999% (5-log reduction) kill rate of bacteria that are commonly found in the operating room environment. The NanoCept technology is designed and FDA cleared to protect orthopedic implants during surgery, prior to implantation.

Brusco: How will the recently opened innovation center for NanoCept benefit the company, doctors, and patients?

Treacy: This investment will allow us to expand the portfolio of NanoCept-coated products, getting this groundbreaking technology into the hands of more surgeons more quickly, putting them in a position to help more patients with complex orthopedic conditions.

The new NanoCept Innovation Center was designed as a multi-functional platform supporting Research and Development to expand the NanoCept portfolio and production of FDA-cleared NanoCept devices. The Innovation Center is supported by a talented team of specialists including Ph.D.s in organic chemistry, supply chain optimization experts, and innovation specialists.

The new facility is vertically integrated to provide agility, scale, and speed-to-market. 

We are fully committed through our investments in talent, automation, and scalable state-of-the-art equipment to bring this antibacterial technology to the medical community and most importantly, the patient population adversely affected by bacterial contamination.

Brusco: How will the recently FDA-cleared ELEOS proximal tibia benefit patients, doctors, and the healthcare system?

Treacy: The recently FDA-cleared ELEOS proximal tibial implant provides the same benefits as implants in the original De Novo market authorization. The clearance of the ELEOS Proximal Tibia with NanoCept Antibacterial Technology allows us to extend this technology to one of the most challenging anatomical sites for bone tumors and complex bone loss. With this clearance, we have demonstrated that we can expand the portfolio of products through the conventional 510(k) regulatory pathway.

Brusco: What’s in the near future for Onkos Surgical’s orthopedic technology?

Treacy: The Onkos Surgical innovation team is working extremely hard expanding and positioning the NanoCept portfolio for a cadence of launches in 2026 and 2027. We recognize the importance of this technology for those in need, and additionally, we recognize that adjacent spaces within orthopedics would benefit from this technology, so are exploring those possibilities.

References
¹^,² bit.ly/odtonkos1
³ bit.ly/odtonkos2