Kleiner Device Labs, a startup founded by Jeff Kleiner, MD, has acquired 23 U.S. patents for its spine technologies and plans to break into the spinal fusion market, currently valued at $14 billion, according to Benzinga.
Dr. Kleiner, a Denver-based spine surgeon with more than 25 years of experience, founded the company in 2013.
"Frustration with existing tools and instrumentation systems led me to develop a suite of tools and techniques which allow open and minimally invasive spinal surgery to be safer, easier and more efficacious," the surgeon said, according to the company's website.
Kleiner's initial product, KG1, demonstrated an ability to increase spinal fusion success rates from 75 percent to 92 percent and is commercially available in the U.S. and U.K., according to the report.
The KG2, or Solid State Fusion Platform, received FDA 510(k) clearance in September and is designed to provide up to three times the amount of bone-grafting material compared with traditional spinal surgery approaches.
"Getting adequate graft fill volume and distribution of graft within the intervertebral disc space is one of the most vexing challenges in spinal fusion procedures, which led us to develop the unique flow-thru technology in our KG series products," Dr. Kleiner said.
Based on comparable acquisitions in the spine industry in recent years, Kleiner Device Labs projects it could generate a return of three to six times the initial investment in the next two to five years if it is acquired by one of its target medical supply companies, according to Benzinga.
In fall 2021, Kleiner launched a public offering, which the company expects to oversubscribe shortly.