Frost & Sullivan granted Vallum's PEEKplus spinal interbody fusion device the 2018 North America New Product Innovation Award.
Here are three insights:
1. The accelerated neutral atom beam-treated PEEKplus technology is designed to enhance PEEK interbody spinal fusion devices' bioactivity by creating a nanotextured PEEK surface.
2. PEEKplus is the only FDA-cleared nanotextured surface on a PEEK interbody device. "To enable bioactivity and initiate the osseointegration process, the surface of the interbody device must be hydrophilic; however, unaltered PEEK is hydrophobic by nature. Vallum addressed this issue by altering the PEEK material at the nanoscale to make it hydrophilic without any coating or chemicals or creating porosity," said Frost & Sullivan Global Program Director Sowmya Rajagopalan.
3. Vallum's ANAB processor superimposes nanoscale concavities directly onto the surface of the PEEK device to create 20- to 50-nanometer concavities. It is designed to convert any preexisting PEEK interbody fusion device into a PEEKplus device.