Yesterday, April 25, 2023, Texas-based spinal implant company, 4WEB Medical filed a lawsuit against soon to be acquired NuVasive, Inc. (NuVasive and Globus Medical, Inc. are merging), accusing the Carlsbad, California company of infringing several of its key patents relating to 3D printed spinal implant designs.
4WEB Sues NuVasive for Alleged Patent Infringement
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4WEB, which has built its business on the unique, 3D printed spinal implant design which features web like geometries that create a high-strength yet lightweight truss implant, is claiming that NuVasive’s Modulus family of spine implants violate 4WEB’s patents.
4WEB’s Claims
4WEB’s patents could not have been possible without the innovation of 3D printing. Today, every manufacturer of orthopedic and spine implants is employing 3D printing technology in order to create innovative, lighter, stronger and more biologically active and ultimately more routinely successful implants.
4WEB’s patents teach a particular design for 3D spinal implants which relies on a truss strut architecture (see image of 4WEB’s Lateral Spine Truss implant) which has been shown in several studies by such well-known academic centers as the University of Pennsylvania to produce strains in the adjacent bone tissue after implant which, according to these studies, promote bone growth and spine fusion. In other words, as 4WEB has claimed in its marketing, the structure of the implant itself is actively participating in the healing process.
In its lawsuit, 4WEB is claiming that NuVasive’s Modulus is violating the claims in 11 different 4WEB owned patents.
NuVasive and 4WEB’s Failed Acquisition Talks in 2015
In early 2015, the two companies were talking merger or acquisition. 4WEB’s executives, Jessee Hunt and Jim Bruty, met with NuVasive’s head of corporate development Augustus (“Gusty”) Denis and on May 5, 2015, both companies signed non-disclosure and non-use agreements. According to 4WEB’s court filing, the talks between the two companies ended in August 2015 when the two companies could not agree on a valuation.
According to 4WEB’s lawsuit, after the acquisition talks ended in 2015, NuVasive developed and then brought to market the Modulus series of spinal implants which were also 3D printed and also relied on a truss architecture.
NuVasive, as it is in the final days before being acquired in a stock transaction with Globus Medical, will be responding.
No dollar amount was set in the filing, but 4WEB did accuse NuVasive of willful patent infringement and is asking for treble damages if a jury agrees with that claim.
More details to follow. Stay tuned for more on this strategically important case.
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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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