Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATEC), the parent company of Alphatec Spine, Inc., a medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders, with a focus on treating conditions related to the aging spine, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Parcell Spine, LLC, pursuant to which Parcell will license and supply Alphatec Spine with Parcell's proprietary adult stem cells for the treatment of spinal disorders
The stem cell, which Parcell commercially calls the ELA stem cell, is a unique adult stem cell that possesses self-renewal and bone regenerative capabilities. The cell is isolated from healthy, living adult donors. The ELA stem cell is highly concentrated in that these cells are derived from adult donors using Parcell's proprietary isolation method that has the potential to yield up to six hundred times more cells than a similar volume of mesenchymal stem cells harvested from bone marrow.
The US spinal Biologics market is estimated to be more than $1.5 Billion in 2010.
"The addition of an osteoprogenitor stem cell will provide Alphatec with an excellent position in the growing market of stem cell therapies for treating disorders of the spine, and will be a strong complement to the other innovative technologies in our core fusion and aging spine portfolios," said Dirk Kuyper, the Company's President and CEO. Mr. Kuyper added, "We are expecting to release this product in the second half of 2010, and we could drive meaningful revenue from this product in 2011. We have been investing heavily into building out our biologics platform to support both our core fusion and aging spine portfolios of products. This product, our Profuse scaffold and the recently announced distribution agreement with ETEX Corporation, are all examples of our focus on providing biologic solutions to improving fusion rates."
Parcell Spine is an affiliate of Parcell Laboratories, a privately owned group of affiliated biotechnology companies that is located in Westwood, MA. Parcell holds the exclusive license from The Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts to the intellectual property covering the ELA stem cell and its isolation. Parcell Spine is dedicated to providing adult stem cells to meet the demands for regenerative spine therapeutics. "We believe that our supply and distribution agreement with Alphatec is an important strategic milestone for the Spine Division of Parcell Laboratories. It is consistent with our objective of partnering with best-of-breed companies that are positioned to fill the gap in the large orthobiologics arena. Alphatec Spine has laser sharp focus on bringing leading products to market to aid the healing of the aging spine and we are confident that we have made the right decision in choosing them as our partner," said Pamela Layton, CEO of Parcell Spine.
