OrthoPediatrics Acquires ApiFix

Warsaw, Indiana-based OrthoPediatrics Corp., a pediatric orthopedics company, has announced its acquisition of ApiFix Ltd., a motion-preservation scoliosis correction company with facilities in Misgav, Israel and Boston, Massachusetts.

OrthoPediatrics purchased ApiFix for 934,768 shares of stock, $2 million cash at closing, with additional milestone payments and an earnout over four years. Over the next four years, the purchase price may add up to over $67 million.

The acquisition includes ApiFix’s minimally invasive deformity correction (MID-C) system, used in the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). The MID-C system, a non-fusion scoliosis correction system, is an implanted, removable “internal brace.” In the United States, the MID-C system is one of only two non-fusion scoliosis correction systems.

ApiFix Chief Executive Officer Paul Mraz elaborated on the MID-C system stating, “ApiFix’s MID-C technology is a posterior dynamic deformity correction system that enables surgeons to perform a unique treatment providing permanent curve correction while retaining spine flexibility, all via a less invasive surgical procedure.”

Last year ApiFix received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, through a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE), to commercialize its MID-C system. Mraz spoke about the FDA approval saying, “The recent FDA approval of the MID-C system provides notable treatment advancements for young patients who would benefit from an alternative solution that fills the gap between non-operative therapies and irreversible spinal fusion.”

Founded in 2006, OrthoPediatrics is “committed to the cause of improving the lives of children with orthopedic conditions.” OrthoPediatrics globally markets 33 surgical systems for trauma, long bone deformity and correction, scoliosis, and sports medicine.

Regarding OrthoPediatrics’ capabilities, Mraz said, “We look forward to OrthoPediatrics’ ability to increase awareness and utilization of a system that is poised to disrupt the continuum of care for scoliosis treatment in pediatric patients.”

For OTW’s previous coverage of OrthoPediatrics see “OrthoPediatrics Named Best Place to Work in Indiana” and “OrthoPediatrics Sells Vilex Adult Device Business.”