Meet the Start-ups

Ivo Kooijman | CEO & Co-Founder | Implican BV

Ivo Kooijman is CEO and co-founder of Implican BV, with 12 years of entrepreneurial experience and 23 years in life sciences corporates across innovation and manufacturing roles.

He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Twente and an Executive Master in Supply Chain Excellence from Tias Business School. An analytical thinker, specialized in simplifying complex challenges and highly focused on promoting collaboration. Ivo excels in both the boardroom as well with technicians on the shop floor.

Previously, as an operations manager, he led cleanroom manufacturing for blood transfusion components, single-use biotech containers and validated implantable intraocular lense manufacturing.

At Implican, he built the team, attracted the initial investors, and shaped the strategic development plan.

Implican

Implican was founded as a spin off from the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), co-founded with Klaas Havenga, still a colorectal surgeon at UMCG. Since then their team of surgeons and engineers, studied wound healing in colorectal surgery and discovered a solution to address Anastomotic Leakage, a major challenge in colorectal cancer surgery.

Implican has developed a short-term surgical implant and a reusable applicator to position the implant. The implant, shaped like two rings, enables rapid and strong primary wound healing by creating a clean wound area and precisely approximating tissue layers.

The patented implant is sold as a disposable functional head, while the reusable applicator serves as an accessory which can be sterilized in a medical center autoclave and successfully place hundreds of implants, resulting in a sustainable business model.

Surgeons can use the Implican Anastomotic device with the same procedure as current colorectal practices. Implican’s product outperforms competitors in clinical performance, reducing the 20% risk of Anastomotic Leakage in colorectal surgery.

After having completed several successful preclinical trials the first in human trial is planned in 2025.