According to a May 9 story in Kitchener Today, Intellijoint Surgical Inc., a company producing a surgeon-controlled navigation tool that can be used when doing hip and knee replacements, is expanding to the Japanese market. Based in Kitchener, Ontario, the firm has already found success in Canada, the United States and Australia, and its technology has been used for more than 20,000 hip replacement procedures since 2016. 

The company said that its products would be distributed with a partner that has a strong presence in Japan. According to Armen Bakirtzian, co-founder and CEO of the company, Japanese demographics and the fact that surgical navigation products are reimbursed by the Japanese government were factors in the decision to expand to Japan.