Becker's Spine Review

54 DEVICES & IMPLANTS 3 key spine device company acquisitions By Alan Condon M ergers and acquisition activity has picked up steam in the spine device industry after the market experienced a dip in 2020 be- cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Arguably the most significant transaction in the spine industry this year was NuVasive's $150 million acquisition of Simplify Medical, which developed an artificial disc that is being evaluated for two-level indications. Two more spine acquisitions expected to close in the second quarter: 1. SeaSpine entered into an agreement to acquire 7D Surgical in a $110 mil- lion deal. The companies partnered in February 2020 to distribute 7D's flag- ship technology, with 7D Surgical to distribute the Machine-Vision Image Guided Surgery system. Both companies' board of directors unanimously approved the deal. 2. Alphatec plans to acquire EOS imaging in a $116.9 million all-cash trans- action. The company said it will integrate EOS technology into its Alpha In- formatix platform, adding spinal imaging and anatomical modeling. After closing, Alphatec expects to see gradual increases in revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow in the first full year of operations. n Alphatec to set up primary distribution facility in Memphis By Alan Condon S pine device company Alphatec said March 23 it plans to lease a 75,000-square-foot facility this summer in Memphis, Tenn., to house its primary distribution operations. The facility will distribute Alphatec's high-volume, commercially launched products, expedite access to nearby distribution centers and facilitate surgi- cal support, according to the company. Alphatec's newly renovated Carlsbad, Calif., headquarters will continue to operate as the company's base for development and shipment of alpha re- lease products. "We must remain predictable and efficient as we rapidly grow, " Alphatec CEO Pat Miles said in a news release. "This new distribution facility will not only enable us to better support surgeries with earlier deliveries and later shipping cutoffs, its central location will position us to more adeptly meet the expanding demand for [Alphatec] solutions nationwide." Alphatec said it plans to significantly ramp up operations in Memphis. The Memphis facility is expected to be up and running in July. n FDA-approved stem cell clinical trial for spina bifida gets underway By Alan Condon U C Davis Health in Sacramento, Calif., on March 1 announced the launch of the first FDA-approved human clinical trial using stem cells before birth to treat spi- na bifida, a defect that occurs when the spine and spinal cord do not form properly. e clinical trial will administer stem cells de- rived from placental tissue to babies who are still in the womb. Researchers hope to repair the defect that occurs when the protective tissue around a baby's developing spinal cord fails to fully close before birth. e California Institute for Regenerative Med- icine is providing a $9 million grant to Diana Farmer, MD, professor and chair of surgery at UC Davis Health, and Aijun Wang, PhD, as- sociate professor of surgery and biomedical engineering at the health system, to fund the clinical trial. "Currently, the standard of care for our pa- tients is fetal surgery, which, while promising, still leaves more than half of children with spi- na bifida unable to walk independently," Dr. Farmer said. "Our team has spent more than a decade working up to this point of being able to test such a promising therapy." e clinical trial will treat six patients who will be monitored by researchers for 30 months af- ter birth to assess the safety and efficacy of the stem cell procedure. During the procedure, the fetal surgeon will place a biological scaffold of placental mes- enchymal stem cells directly over the exposed spinal cord. e surgeon then closes the open- ing in the baby's back to allow the tissue to re- generate and protect the infant's spinal cord. "Our cellular therapy approach, in combina- tion with surgery, should encourage tissue re- generation and help patients avoid devastating impairments throughout their lives," Dr. Wang added. n

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