ARTICLES

On July 16, DePuy Synthes announced the acquisition of Expanding Innovations, a commercial-stage company from Mountain View built around expandable interbody technology. Terms undisclosed, which in this industry usually means small. The press release reads like a hundred others: portfolio strengthened, high-growth segment, meaningful innovation for surgeons and patients. Fine. … [Read more...] about Is DePuy Back in the Spine Fight? Why DePuy Really Bought Expanding Innovations

Pelvic fixation has long been the uncomfortable secret of complex spine surgery. Surgeons anchor long deformity constructs into the pelvis using hardware that was never designed for the job — longer, wider pedicle screws driven into iliac and S2-alar-iliac trajectories — and the literature has been telling us for years what happens next: loosening, sacroiliac pain, hardware … [Read more...] about Who Is PAULA, and Why Should Every Deformity Surgeon Know Her Name?

Ask a spine executive which competitors keep them up at night and you will hear the usual suspects: Medtronic, Globus, Stryker or VB Spine. Almost nobody mentions Mindray. That may prove to be a mistake — not because Mindray will disrupt spine tomorrow, but because it checks every box of a dangerous late entrant: enormous scale, deep pockets, a global commercial machine already … [Read more...] about The Giant Next Door: Is Mindray Spine’s Next Big Threat?

On June 11, Rebecca Whitney announced she was stepping down as CEO of Highridge Medical to pursue "a new CEO opportunity outside the spine industry." Three weeks later we learned where: Young Innovations, a dental products manufacturer owned by private equity firm TJC, named her chief executive on July 1. On paper, a routine executive transition. In practice, it deserves a … [Read more...] about Highridge Medical CEO Departure: Spine’s Quietest Exit of 2026

Sixteen months separate two transactions that, taken together, tell us more about where musculoskeletal medicine is heading than most corporate strategy presentations. In February 2025, Globus Medical agreed to buy Nevro Corp., the spinal cord stimulation company, for roughly $250 million in cash. This week, Zimmer Biomet announced it will pay up to $140 million for iovera°, … [Read more...] about Orthopedics Is Moving Into Pain. Zimmer and Globus Just Showed How

There is a version of Alphatec's first quarter that reads like a growth story, and a version that reads like a warning. Both are true, and the distance between them is the most useful thing to study in spine right now. The growth story first. Surgical revenue reached $178 million, up 17% year over year, on 21% case-volume growth and a 23% increase in net new surgeon users. … [Read more...] about Strong Surgery, Soft Quarter: ATEC and the Cost of the Capital Bet

When Medtronic put Sextant on the market at the start of the 2000s, percutaneous pedicle screw fixation looked like the obvious endpoint for lumbar surgery: the same construct, a fraction of the soft-tissue damage. Nearly a quarter-century later, that endpoint has only partly arrived. MIS spine has been one of the most promising stories in the implant market for years. The … [Read more...] about Percutaneous MIS Spine Systems: Why Adoption Still Lags 25 Years After Sextant

Almost everywhere, spine belongs to the multinationals. Brazil doesn't follow the script, and the reasons run deeper than price. Run down the top of the spine market in the US, Europe or most of Asia and the same names keep showing up: Medtronic, DePuy Synthes, Stryker (VB Spine) , Globus Medical. Brazil is the odd one out. The biggest slice of the market there belongs to … [Read more...] about Why the Locals Win in Brazil | Updated 2026

Sublaminar bands occupy an unusual position in spine. They will never be a volume category in the way pedicle screws, cages or biologics are. Their role is more specific. But in complex deformity, pediatric cases or difficult fixation scenarios, that specificity is precisely what gives them value. Their value is not defined by volume, but by the specific problems they solve: … [Read more...] about Sublaminar Bands in Spine Surgery: Why This Small Fixation Market Still Matters | Updated 2026

Russia was never a transparent spine market. Large enough to matter, technically capable in selected centers, quietly dependent on imported premium technology. That was the working summary most international companies operated on before 2022. The picture has shifted since. Outside visibility has dropped, domestic industrial pressure has risen, and import substitution, long … [Read more...] about Sanctions, Titanium and Pedicle Screws: How Russia’s Spine Market Is Rebuilding Itself

What happens when the environment that built a generation of elite field reps no longer exists — and a new generation is building careers without ever knowing what they missed? There's a particular kind of clarity that comes from watching an industry transform from the inside. Veterans of spine sales describe an era when hospital access was assumed, relationships were built … [Read more...] about Hospital Access Is Gone. What Comes Next for Spine Field Sales?

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is one of the most standardized procedures in spine surgery. The workflow is familiar: decompression, controlled distraction, sizing, and insertion of a static interbody cage. For decades, this has worked reliably and predictably. So when expandable cages appeared in the cervical spine, the reaction was immediate and … [Read more...] about Expandable Cervical Cages: Innovation or Just a Niche Tool? | Updated May 2026

Spine surgery is moving toward ambulatory surgery centers. That part of the conversation is largely settled. What remains underexamined — especially at the executive level — is the commercial question underneath it: what does a sustainable spine business actually look like when the customer is no longer a large hospital system, but a cost-sensitive, operationally lean surgical … [Read more...] about The ASC Opportunity in Spine Will Be Won by Commercial Redesign, Not by Product Alone

Globus Medical’s latest results created an apparent contradiction. The company reported a very strong first quarter, raised its earnings guidance, continued to show the benefits of the NuVasive integration, and reinforced its position as one of the leading players in spine. Yet the stock did not move as many would have expected. In fact, the immediate market reaction was … [Read more...] about Globus Medical: Strong Q1, Weak Stock Reaction — Is the Market Asking for More?

Globus Medical’s first quarter 2026 results confirm something important: the company is no longer just digesting major acquisitions. It is beginning to show the operating logic behind them. The headline figures are strong, but the more relevant point is the quality of the performance. Growth came not only from Nevro, but also from the underlying business, particularly U.S. … [Read more...] about Globus Medical: Stronger in Spine, but Could DePuy Synthes’ Trauma Business Be the Next Big Move?

The Taiwanese spine market is relatively small, it has a sophisticated healthcare system, broad access to care and strong medical infrastructure. However, reimbursement discipline and price pressure remain important realities. For spine companies, this creates a demanding environment: surgeons may be open to advanced technologies, but hospitals remain highly sensitive to cost, … [Read more...] about Taiwan’s Spine Industry: Why a Small Market Could Become a Serious Export Hub

Last week, we published the news that Amplio Spine, LLC had signed a Letter of Intent to acquire the FDA-cleared KeyLift™ Expandable Interlaminar Stabilization System from FloSpine, LLC. This announcement brings interspinous and interlaminar implants back into focus. For that reason, we have updated our overview of this product category and its market, looking not only at … [Read more...] about Do Interspinous Spacers Still Have a Place in Spine Surgery? | Updated 2026

In posterior fixation, modularity is no longer just a design feature. Its real value depends on whether it gives surgeons more control during the procedure. For many years, pedicle screw systems competed around strength, simplicity and familiarity. The objective was clear: place the screw, connect the rod, reduce the construct and lock it down. But posterior spine … [Read more...] about Modular Pedicle Screws: When Adaptability Becomes the Product

India is no longer just a large emerging market for spine. It is becoming one of the most strategically important growth markets in the world, driven by a combination of rising spinal disease burden, expanding hospital infrastructure, growing access to surgery, and a domestic manufacturing base that is getting stronger every year. Depending on the market definition used, … [Read more...] about India’s Spine Market Is Moving Too Fast to Ignore