Spinal Elements, Inc. has announced that they have licensed a portfolio of patents essential for accessing the lumbar spine from a lateral approach and placing implants from that approach. The lateral approach to the spine provides the potential for less disruptive, minimally invasive surgical (MIS) access techniques to address numerous spinal pathologies.
Spinal Elements: Patent Bonanza
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Spinal Elements plans to use this newly licensed technology to develop access systems and implants for introduction later in the year. The company recently received 510(k) clearance from the FDA to market implants placed using the lateral access procedure. The clearance included the use of the company’s Ti-Bond porous titanium coating on such laterally-placed implants.
Company President and co-founder Jason Blain remarked in the May 29, 2013 news release, “We are glad to add this portfolio of patents as a resource from which we can expand our product offerings as we move to make Spinal Elements an innovative leader in the MIS spine access and implant market. Over the course of the year we have introduced and will continue to introduce new technologies to offer spine surgeons the most advanced technologies for their patients.”
Todd Andres, company CEO and co-founder, added, “The licensing of these patents and development of these systems is congruent with our culture of respecting the intellectual property of those who innovated before us while also developing our own technology and intellectual property to advance the field.”
Jason Blain told OTW, ”The decision to license the patents was easy. Spinal Elements is quickly expanding our MIS product portfolio and lateral access and implants will be an important part of that. We recognized that there is significant intellectual property (IP) already in the space. We want to protect our own IP while respecting that of others. The group that licensed the IP to us was extremely professional and pleasurable throughout the process.”
“We will rapidly work to get our patented retractor system outfitted for lateral access over the course of the year. We will introduce a unique and advanced system for our customers while expanding our Ti-Bond titanium porous coating technology to the lateral platform.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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