Dive Brief:

• Centinel Spine, a privately held medical device maker based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said it has agreed to sell its spinal fusion portfolio to Switzerland-based Silony Medical International for an undisclosed sum.
• Divesting the fusion business will allow Centinel to focus on driving sales of total disc replacement devices in a market where the company aims to gain share, Centinel said.
• The transaction includes all of Centinel’s cervical and lumbar fusion products, including the STALIF platform for integrated interbody fusion.

Dive Insight:

The spinal fusion market is in the process of recovering from a COVID-led downturn as elective procedures that were put on hold during the pandemic ramp back up. A recent survey of 50 U.S. spine surgeons by analysts at BTIG forecast volume growth of nearly 5% in the third quarter, with the rate expected to accelerate over the next year. 

A number of large medical device makers participate in the spine market, including Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Synthes unit, Stryker and ZimVie. Globus Medical, another leading player, this month announced it finalized the $3.1 billion acquisition of NuVasive.

Silony Medical, which has positioned itself as a challenger to “big medtech” in spinal fusion, said adding Centinel’s fusion devices to its portfolio will strengthen its technological capabilities and geographic reach. A team of Centinel employees, who bring expertise in the anterior fusion market, will join Silony, the company added.

“Uniting stand-alone/screw integrated cervical and lumbar solutions with our predominantly posterior capabilities is a logical move that will further accelerate our global growth,” Silony CEO Constantin Schoen said in a statement.

Centinel said it will focus on expanding sales of its total disc replacement platform, called prodisc, after selling the fusion business. Revenue from prodisc reached about $32 million in the first half of 2023, an increase of more than 50% from the same period a year ago, the company said, allowing it to claim the No. 2 market share position worldwide in cervical and lumbar total disc replacement.

The companies said the transaction is expected to close within 45 days.