Medtronic receives FDA approval for first artificial disc for the neck

Millennium Research Group (MRG) has conducted a detailed analysis of the US spinal implant market in its US Markets for Spinal Implants report.

The analysis reveals that the cervical artificial disc market will reach a value of nearly $450 million in 2011. Medtronic Spinal and Biologic's Prestige Cervical Disc, which received approval from the FDA on July 16, is the first artificial disc for the neck. Other companies slated to release cervical artificial discs over the next several years include Synthes Spine, Stryker Spine, Globus Medical, SpinalMotion, Cervitech, DePuy Spine, LDR Spine, and Blackstone Medical.

Cervical artificial discs, such as Medtronic's Prestige, allow patients suffering from degenerative disc disease pain relief while maintaining mobility. Medtronic has agreed to run two different studies as part of the conditions of approval. One study is a 7-year process to evaluate effectiveness and long-term safety and the other is a 5-year enhanced surveillance study.

"Artificial discs were developed to treat chronic back pain while allowing for the preservation of physiological vertebral motion, proper intervertebral spacing, and stability," says Kevin Flewwelling, Senior Analyst at MRG. "In contrast to lumbar artificial discs, however, the cervical artificial disc market holds much more potential because surgeons are relatively more comfortable with the anterior cervical technique required for disc implantation."

The US Markets for Spinal Implants report is part of a global series that also includes Europe, Asia Pacific, and a number of emerging markets. Companies covered in this report series include Medtronic Spinal and Biologics, DePuy Spine, Synthes Spine, Stryker Spine, NuVasive, Abbott Spine, Blackstone Medical, Biomet Spine, Zimmer Spine, Kyphon, Solco Medical, Showa Medical, GS Medical Japan MDM, B.Braun/Aesculap, Scient'X, MBA Grupo and Wright Cremascoli. For ongoing quarterly tracking of market shares by brand, MRG offers its Marketrack service, which tracks the US Spinal Implant market and gathers quarterly data from 120 facilities performing spinal fusions. Besides market share, this service also provides brand level usage (units, average selling price, and revenue) and detailed procedure numbers by approach and instrumentation type.