Centinel Spine entered into an asset purchase agreement to acquire the ProDisc Total Disc Replacement portfolio from DePuy Synthes and expects to close the purchase in November. The company is acquiring the entire platform of ProDisc technologies, including the Discover, ProDisc-C, ProDisc-L, ProDisc-C Vivo, ProDisc-C Nova and ProDisc-Oblique.
"The vision is to create the No. 1 unique spine technology platform worldwide," says John Viscogliosi, chairman and CEO of Centinel Spine as well as founding member and principal of Viscogliosi Brothers. "The mission is to become the worldwide leading company addressing spinal disease through anteriorly accessing the spine with the widest breadth and depth of technology platforms."
The ProDisc portfolio includes lumbar and cervical disc replacements that achieved FDA clearance in August 2006 and December 2007, respectively. The first ProDisc-L was implanted in 1990 and introduced in the U.S. in 1999. The first ProDisc-C was implanted in Europe in 2002.
In 2014, the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery published a positive coverage policy statement on cervical disc replacement, and since then several payers have adjusted coverage.
"We see that there is a large opportunity for growth within the total disc replacement market as more insurance companies are beginning to reimburse for it and it's becoming available to the U.S. population," says Mr. Viscogliosi. "There has also been an increase in CMS total disc replacement payment for patients in the ASC."
The ProDisc technology has proven clinical efficacy in the U.S., and a 2016 study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine found the procedure is also cost-effective compared to fusion. Study authors found total disc replacement with ProDisc-C recorded an average of $12,789 in savings while being more effective than spinal fusion for single-level procedures. Centinel Spine is planning to commence clinical trials with the Nova, Vivo and Oblique technologies, currently sold outside of the U.S.
"We know that those products perform well outside of the U.S., so they should perform well inside the U.S. as well," Mr. Viscogliosi says. The artificial discs will complement Centinel Spine's current spinal technology portfolio for anterior column support, including the STALIF and MIDLINE products.