VTI: Three New Distributors in Northern Europe

Minneapolis-based VTI (Vertebral Technologies, Inc.) is fortifying its presence in Northern Europe, bringing three new distributors on board.

According to the March 7, 2017 news release, “The three new distribution channels VTI will be partnering with are: Joline GmbH & Co KG, based in Hechingen, Germany; Articular, based in Helsinki, Finland and Anatomica, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. All three distributors have a strong presence in all major hospitals within their respective countries.”

VTI Vice President of International Sales Ben Wasscher stated, “We believe that we have significantly upgraded the quality of our distribution network in Northern Europe, enabling VTI to better serve its existing surgeon customers as well as significantly expanding on this existing user base. This will bring the benefits of the InterFuse modular interbodies to a larger patient population.”

“Anatomica’s sales force is very enthusiastic about the InterFuse system!” says Anatomica CEO Sverker Stomberg.

When asked about how surgeons react when seeing the InterFuse product, Peter Kohlbecher, director of Sales & Marketing at Joline GmbH & Co KG said, “They like the fact that a large surface implant can be inserted from posterior; no need to flip the patient; no need to work with general surgeons to get access to the spine from the anterior.”

Asked about any advice for the three new distributors, Wasscher told OTW, “We suggest to the distributors that in their initial discussions with surgeons the focus is on how best to treat the more challenging patient groups, specifically those with poor bone quality. The large footprint of InterFuse is unrivaled by other cages that are implanted via the PLIF [posterior lumbar interbody fusion] or TLIF [transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion] approach. Surgeons recognize the benefit this brings in preventing subsidence and retropulsion and potentially preventing future revision surgeries and are often keen to bring these benefits to their patients.”

“We expect that the distributor sales teams will become very confident in how to present the InterFuse cage to their customers and we expect that usage of the modular lumbar interbody device in these countries will grow significantly. The adoption process for any new device can be time consuming and we would expect that in 3-6 months we will have a significant group of surgeons in the pipeline, who are going through the hospital approvals and training process. This will ensure continued growth for the next year or two.”