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InMotion moves closer to campaign goal, now in position for heftier national grants

By Michael Sheffield | Memphis Business Journal

Despite a slow economy and industry issues, 2009 has been a successful year for InMotion Orthopaedic Research Institute as the organization is close to completing its $6 million sustainability campaign.

For 2010, InMotion is looking to take a leap into a different world of research grants, having successfully received six-figure grants from local organizations like The Plough Foundation, Assisi Foundation of Memphis, Inc., and most recently a $10,000 grant from the Tennessee Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.

The $10,000 grant will fund a study looking at the performance of total knee replacements in deceased patients who received a total knee replacement during their lives.

Researchers will look at cadavers to see how these successful implants performed, versus previous studies that looked at failed implants that were removed from live subjects.

Len Smith, CEO for the Arthritis Foundation, says the foundation’s interest in supporting initiatives in the state, and the specific interest of one of its benefactors, led to the grant. If the study is successful, it could lead to future partnerships between the Arthritis Foundation and InMotion.

That’s a development that Dick Tarr, executive director of InMotion, says is another major goal it has for 2010.

“We already have one company that has completely relied on us to do their testing,” Tarr says. “When you do that, people take note that you can produce.”

Tarr says the organization expects two or three new grants in 2010, but the goal is now to build an endowment to cover research, operations and administrative costs.

InMotion is operating with a $2.1 million budget for 2010, and Tarr says it is operating in the black. “We’re looking at going after some national funders, because we can’t keep going back to local foundations,” Tarr says.

“We’re also looking at orthopedic companies and building a base of individual donors. We’re trying to spread our wings and entice local individuals to take note and invest in the medical research arena.” A 2003 U.S Department of Justice investigation of orthopedic companies’ financial relationships and consulting agreements with orthopedic surgeons resulted in an out-of-court settlement of $311 million and an agreement to 18 months of federal oversight.

Since then, industry contracts from companies like Smith & Nephew, Inc., and Medtronic, Inc., have dried up. But slowly, the investments are starting to come back.

As a 501(c)3 organization in good standing, InMotion, which has raised nearly $9 million since its inception in 2004, is now in a position to apply for larger, multimillion-dollar grants from national foundations like the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation.

As with small business start-ups, not-for-profit organizations like InMotion must become sustainable in the first five years of operating.

“Once people realize you don’t have the high risk of failure, they see you in a different light,” Tarr says. “That makes a big difference in showing that we’re capable of managing the business into the future.”