NuVasive to Acquire Cervitech for Up to $80 million
BY LAUREN UZDIENSKI, APRIL 23, 2009
NuVasive announced yesterday afternoon that they would acquire NJ-based Cervitech for $47 million and up to $33 million upon the achievement of certain regulatory milestones. Up to half of these payments can be made in stock.
Cervitech is developing the Porous Coated Motion (PCM) artificial cervical disc. A 500-patient clinical trial randomizing the device against fusion is expected to conclude later this year, with outcome measures including improvement in NDI and VAS scores at two years. NuVasive expects to be able to file the PMA in early 1Q:10 with a launch in 2011. The company estimates that PCM will reach $100 million in sales within three years of its U.S. launch.
In conjunction with the Cervitech acquisition, NuVasive has decided not to pursue development of their ceramic-on-ceramic Cerpass disc. The company has an approved IDE for Cerpass but never started clinical enrollment.
On yesterday's 1Q:09 conference call, CEO Alex Lukianov suggested that one of the benefits of the Cervitech acquisition was getting the product to market quickly. The company may face commercialization delays with NeoDisc, a cervical disc being developed in-house and featuring a nucleus-like core, with Lukianov commenting that the innovative product lacks an established regulatory pathway. Currently, the only cervical discs on the U.S. market are Medtronic's Prestige and Synthes' ProDisc-C.
