Abbott Invests $15 million in Replication Medical
BY JOHN MCCORMICK, SEPTEMBER 14, 2005
Yesterday Abbott Spine announced that it invested $15 million in Replication Medical, Inc., a developer of implantable hydrogel devices intended for the treatment of degenerative spinal disc disease. Valuation data was not available even from the best of our sources, but below we provide you with a history of prior fundings at Replication Medical.
27-Jul-00 $ 3mm for Product Development
27-Mar-03 $ 6mm for Product Development
28-Dec-04 $ 1mm for Product Development
13-Sep-05 $ 15mm for Product Development
Source: www.venturesource.com
According to a press release, the capital will be used by Replication Medical to expand development of its hydrogels and implants for spine care. Of note the Company's NeuDisc(TM) spinal nucleus implant is currently in clinical evaluation in Europe with clinical trials in the US anticipated to commence in 2006.
To those of you looking to learn more about nucleus replacement, we recommend an excellent article in the August 2005 Spine Journal entitled "Nucleus Pulposus Replacement: Basic Science and Indications for Clinical Use" by Di Martino, Vaccaro, Lee, Denaro and Lim. The article is a survey of emerging nucleus replacement technologies. The executive summary: nucleus replacement has shown promising pre-clinical potential, but understanding true efficacy requires extensive clinical trials.
