Becker's Spine Review

32 DEVICES & IMPLANTS Spinal robotics company forging new path after spiking $482M plan to go public By Alan Condon M inimally invasive spine device com- pany Accelus is making a "strategic pivot" aer it scrapped a previous deal to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company. The $482 million combination with CHP Merger Corp. was agreed upon in November, but Accelus decided to scrap the transaction because of market conditions, according to CEO and co-founder Chris Walsh, who spent nearly 20 years combined at NuVasive and Stryker. "We believe that this strategic pivot will best enable our team to execute on our mission to transform the spine surgery space by accelerat - ing the adoption of [minimally invasive surgery] as the standard of care," Mr. Walsh said. "We continue to see accelerating demand for our highly differentiated product portfolio and for robotic-enabled minimally invasive techniques specifically, both in hospitals and ASCs." Accelus' first move since calling off the deal was to hire neurosurgeon Kevin Foley, MD, as its first chief robotics officer. Dr. Foley is chair of Semmes Murphey Clinic and director of complex spine surgery at Semmes Murphey in Memphis, Tenn. As chief robotics officer, he will lead the devel - opment of Accelus' Remi robotic navigation system, designed to assist spine surgeons with the implantation of pedicle screws and expand beyond the capabilities of current spine robots on the market, according to the company. Dr. Foley was a key contributor in the development of Remi and performed his first surgery with the robot last December. "I was interested in developing a system that was designed to both exceed the precision of existing legacy spinal robotic systems and ad - dress the inherent significant limitations as- sociated with those legacy systems, such as extended setup and teardown time, procedural workflow disruptions, large footprints and high cost," Dr. Foley said in an April 18 news release. "Remi addresses all of these concerns, providing equivalent accuracy with an opti - mized procedural workflow and duration at a fraction of the cost of previous systems." Remi comprises an ultra-lightweight nearfield camera to minimize line-of-sight issues and a robotic targeting platform that surgeons can manipulate before locking in for targeting. Both the camera and targeting platform are at - tached to the operating room table during sur- gery and stored in the workstation when not operational, which minimizes Remi's footprint and makes it suitable for use in ASCs, accord- ing to Accelus. Accelus was formed last year when Integrity Implants merged with Fusion Robotics. n Neurosurgeon joins Medtronic as chief medical officer By Carly Behm M edtronic hired Ashwini Sharan, MD, as chief medi- cal officer of the company's neuromodulation operating unit. Dr. Sharan will help shape the direc- tion of innovation and clinical evi- dence plans and work with the medi- cal community to address its needs, according to a June 6 news release. He has 25 years of experience and is co-director of neurorestoration at Jefferson Medical College in Phila- delphia. He treats a variety of con- ditions, including herniated discs, spinal cord injury and back and neck pain. n Spine device could get up to $9,800 Medicare payment boost By Alan Condon C MS has granted its new technology add-on pay- ment to SI-Bone's iFuse Bedrock Granite implant, which received the FDA's breakthrough device designation in November and is designed for sacroiliac fu- sion and sacropelvic fixation. The add-on payment "will be based on 65 percent of the per patient anticipated hospital cost achieved ... up to a potential maxi- mum of approximately $9,800," CEO Laura Francis said during SI- Bone's first-quarter earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha. Once the NTAP proposal is final- ized, and if iFuse Bedrock Gran- ite receives FDA clearance, the device will be available for addi- tional Medicare payment in the hospital inpatient setting as part of multisegment spinal fusions, Ms. Francis said. CMS uses the program to accel- erate the adoption of innovative devices meeting certain cost and clinical improvement criteria after FDA approval. "We believe the benefits of iFuse Granite's differentiated technol- ogy, the seamless surgeon work- flow integration and potential for incremental reimbursement, puts us in a strong competitive posi- tion," Ms. Francis said. "It will allow us to accelerate our growth in an attractive, $250 million adjacent adult deformity market." n

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