AxioMed Spine Corporation has raised $3.6 million in new financing from current and new investors.
The Garfield Heights, Ohio, company formed in 2001 is developing products, according to a January 10 press release, “to restore spinal function in patients with degenerative spine disease by advancing the standard of care beyond fusion and first generation total disc replacement.” With this round of financing, the company has raised over $37 million.
To date, the company’s leading products are the Freedom Lumbar and Cervical Discs. The devices have received CE Mark approval for distribution in the European Union. The company is pursuing U.S. regulatory approval for the technology. The cervical disc is a viscoelastic one-piece total disc replacement featuring a polymer core. The lumbar disc received a CE Mark in 2009 while the cervical disc received its CE Mark in 2012.
Viscoelastic Technology
The company notes on its web site that the first discs to be approved in the U.S. are first generation designs based upon ball-and-socket articulating bearings, modeled after hip and knee replacement prostheses. While offering some advantages over fusion, such as preservation of motion and reduced complications, they have significant shortcomings and cannot replicate the native function of the natural disc, specifically:
- three dimensional motion
- dynamic stiffness
- load sharing capability
- proper maintenance of the lordotic curve.
AxioMed’s viscoelastic technology, according to the company, provides three-dimensional motion that biomechanical testing has shown functions within the natural biomechanics of the spine.
Patrick McBrayer, the company’s president and CEO, is the former head of Osteotech, Inc.
