A prosthesis does more than simply restore a missing body part: it restores a person’s life. By renewing self-confidence, prosthetics can greatly improve the quality of life for those who use them – without the risks and expense that come with reconstructive surgery.
Irene Healey is more familiar than most with the transformative power of both an aesthetic and functional prosthesis. A trained sculptor with a degree in medical art, the Canadian specializes in designing facial and body prostheses. Her work combines anatomical expertise, artistic creativity and new technologies such as 3D printing to create unique, functional devices for her clients. The results, as expressed by one of those clients, “made me feel whole again.”
Custom-Made Prosthetics: an Alternative to Reconstructive Surgery
Irene first started working under her New Attitude brand in 2004, when she developed and commercialized her innovative custom breast prostheses for women who had undergone breast cancer surgery. These early years proved an excellent incubator for research and development, requiring Irene as both Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer to develop many proprietary techniques and silicone formulations that the company has since maintained as trade secrets.
Irene’s experience of working with patients led to another iteration of the New Attitude brand as New Attitude Design Technologies Inc, a Toronto-based company finding new solutions to women’s health issues. Current in-development medical devices include silicone appliances to treat dry eye disease and a vaginal stent to treat vulvovaginal atrophy – two conditions that are most prevalent in post-menopausal women.
New Attitude’s pioneering work in soft tissue prosthetics, such as this facial fabrication, has generated a large IP portfolio.
Benefiting from WIPO’s IP Management Clinic for Femtech
Despite New Attitude’s longevity and success, until recently its intellectual property (IP) portfolio remained limited to trade secrets. “All the work we’ve done in the past 20 years has been done in our own manufacturing facility, and I’ve been very successful at maintaining our IP as trade secrets,” says Irene. “However, although this has been effective, it can also be limiting, and I see the value of having a mix of IP protection, including both design and utility patents.”
With this in mind, in 2024 Irene applied to join WIPO’s IP Management Clinic (IPMC), a long-running initiative providing SMEs with tailored, expert advice on maximizing their IP portfolio for business success. The course Irene was accepted on was organized jointly with the Israeli Patent Office and in collaboration with the Canadian IP Office to support 20 Israeli and Canadian femtech SMEs and startups.
Over the course of four months, Irene and her fellow participants received training sessions, business mentorship and practical IP recommendations from IP and business experts.
It was an intense program, but it transformed my understanding of IP. Thanks to the IPMC, I now have a solid grasp of the various forms of IP protection. It gave me the tools and confidence to shape stronger contracts and assess the IP strategies of our partners.
Irene Healey
Shortly after the IPMC training concluded, New Attitude Design Technologies Inc was accepted to receive additional IP support from Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON). Irene feels her prior training with the IPMC was an important factor in getting accepted. The additional training and IP support provided by IPON was well-timed, supporting New Attitude’s shift toward developing several scalable devices for which there are large and growing markets.
Irene Healey’s designs, such as this prosthetic thumb, combine scientific precision and artistic innovation.
A diversified IP portfolio for New Attitude Prosthetics
Following advice given to Irene at the IPMC, New Attitude is now a registered trademark in Canada and the United States and Irene has diversified her company’s IP portfolio with patent applications. “Through the training received at the IPMC, I was ready to work with an IP lawyer and pursue IP patent applications I hadn’t considered before,” she says. “The strategy I’m now following came directly from what I learned at the IPMC, and the practical knowledge gained will shape my decision-making for years to come. It was a wonderful occurrence that New Attitude received IP funding through IPON shortly afterwards. I was able to immediately start acting on what I had learned through the IPMC.”
As part of this renewed IP push, Irene also conducted an IP audit of her company. “I came to realize just how much IP I’ve accumulated over the past 20 years. In fact, it’s given me a renewed enthusiasm for my work and an interest in pursuing patent applications for devices I had developed but put aside.”
By pursuing patent applications, Irene is ensuring greater protection for New Attitude’s IP as well as stronger enforcement mechanisms should any IP be revealed. “By providing these IP resources to small business and startups,” said Irene, "WIPO and its partners are raising the level of conversation and enabling business owners to think more strategically and to be more decisive and more proactive regarding their IP, which will undoubtedly increase productivity.”
For New Attitude, this increased protection and productivity does not just mean greater commercial success. It means more innovative prosthetics and medical devices for Irene’s clients – including many women – to help them recover their quality of life.
