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SmartTRAK Life Sciences News and Analysis Blog

Erin Dorgan

Senior Analyst, Spine and OrthoBiologics

Recent Posts

3 min read

NASS Biologic Interventions 2025: Spotlight on Theradaptive

By Erin Dorgan on 1/16/26 8:59 AM

Theradaptive’s Chief Scientific Officer Frank Vizesi provides an overview of the company’s unique protein and how it hopes to disrupt the bone replacement market in an interview with SmartTRAK at the 2025 NASS Biologic Interventions Meeting.

Frank Vizesi, chief scientific officer of Theradaptive, discusses how the company is focused on creating a new recombinant BMP-2 to solve existing problems within the Bone Replacement Market in an interview with SmartTRAK on May 9, 2025, at the 2025 North American Spine Society (NASS) Biologics Interventions meeting in Chicago, Illinois. The company is developing a new version of recombinant BMP-2 called AMP-2, an adhesive variant of BMP-2 that retains the whole protein structure of BMP-2 and all its potency to bind to implant surfaces tightly.

Click on the following video (10:47 min) to learn more. A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.


SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Erin Dorgan, senior analyst here at SmartTRAK. I'm here today with Frank Vizesi, chief scientific officer at Theradaptive. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Do you mind sharing a little more about your background and role at Theradaptive?

Frank Vizesi: Sure. Thanks for having me today. So my background, originally PhD, biomedical engineer from Sydney, Australia. Was very lucky to do my studies with the great professor, Bill Walsh, a good friend, and we still talk almost daily at this point.

My background now, I've been in the spine industry based out of San Diego, California for almost 20 years. Started off with NuVasive in the biologics R&D team there. I then left to join a spin out called SeaSpine. Ultimately I was the chief scientific officer of SeaSpine. Then we were acquired and merged with Orthofix and I became the chief scientific officer of the combined company then.

About a year ago, just a little over a year ago, I left to join a new startup called Theradaptive, the company who I've been tracking for probably about five or six years. Being in the biologic space I'm always interested to find out where the next most advanced bone graft is going to come from. I've been tracking quite a few different companies and I just sort of fell in love with the technology of Theradaptive, it's very advanced, and the team there. And decided that the best way to help bring your really advanced bone biologic product to market that can really help patients and solve problems would be to come and join the company.

It was the first time for me to join a startup, my previous background all being in publicly traded companies, but I've been having a blast.

Can you share a little bit more about the technology at Theradaptive and what they're doing?

FV: Yeah, sure. So let me start first with maybe the opportunity or the problem. So right now in the biologic space, surgeons really have a choice between ...

Want to learn more about Theradaptive and how it hopes to disrupt the bone replacement market? Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of our exclusive interview with Frank Vizesi, CSO of Theradaptive, conducted by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Sr Analyst, Spine & Bone Replacement.Get the Transcript

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2 min read

Musculoskeletal New Ventures Conference 2025

By Erin Dorgan on 12/30/25 9:30 AM

The Musculoskeletal New Ventures Conference meeting offers a glimpse into emerging and promising technologies that are shaping the US Spinal Hardware Market.

The Musculoskeletal New Ventures Conference (MNVC) took place on November 4-5, 2025, in Memphis, TN. This annual conference highlights new and emerging technologies focused on the orthopedics space, and this year alone had over 45 companies present. In this article, SmartTRAK highlights four spine-focused companies with novel technologies that will impact the broader US Spinal Hardware Market, which is projected to grow at a 5-year CAGR of +4.0% by 2029E, according to SmartTRAK estimates.  

The companies covered in this article are:

  • ZygoFix
    Since its presentation at MNVC last year, ZygoFix has begun surgeries in the US and currently has five surgeons incorporating the zLock into their practices. The company plans to expand access in ... (read more)

  • Nanohive
    Nanohive is focused on providing patient-specific interbody implants built on its proprietary soft titanium lattice platform, which has a lower modulus of elasticity than other titanium metals and is closer to ... (read more)
  • Lenoss Medical
    Lenoss Medical offers a novel biological allograft implant, Osteopearl, for the VCF market, which eliminates the need for ... (read more)

  • Synergy Spine Solutions
    Synergy Spine Solutions is currently participating in FDA clinical trials to bring its Synergy disc to the US market. This unique disc preserves motion and actively corrects alignment in the cervical spine due to ... (read more)

According to SmartTRAK Product Explorer, there are over 219 companies and approximately 1,150 products competing for market share in the US Spinal Hardware Market today. The MNVC meeting provided a glimpse into new and promising technologies for the US Spinal Hardware Market.

To learn more about MNVC 2025 and the companies presenting, click the button below to download the complete article by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Sr Analyst, Spine & Bone Replacement.Get the Article

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3 min read

Cerapedics: Innovation in Bone Growth Acceleration

By Erin Dorgan on 8/11/25 4:18 PM

Cerapedics’ CEO Valeska Schroeder discusses the company’s newly PMA-approved PearlMatrix P-15 Peptide Enhanced Bone Graft and its unique advantages over existing bone graft options in an interview with SmartTRAK.

Valeska Schroeder, CEO of Cerapedics, discusses the launch of PearlMatrix, a next-generation bone growth accelerator approved for transforminal lateral interbody fusion (TLIF) procedures, and how its strong clinical data, especially its speed to fusion in high-risk patients, sets it apart in a crowded bone graft market. Click on the following video (16:18 min) to learn more. A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.

 

SmartTRAK: This is Erin Dorgan, senior analyst at SmartTRAK. I'm here today with Valeska Schroeder, CEO of Cerapedics. Valeska, thanks for joining me today.

Valeska Schroeder: Hi. Thanks so much for having me today. I'm excited to be here and to be able to talk more about Cerapedics.

Awesome. Before we kind of get started, can you share a little bit about your background and how you came into your current role today as CEO and chairman of the board?

VS: Sure, I'd be happy to. I started my career as an engineer, so my background is in material science and I have been in the medtech industry for most of my career, starting out more on the R&D side. I was part of a venture group for the six years prior to joining Cerapedics, and that's where I first got to know Cerapedics; that group, KCK, invested in Cerapedics back in 2018. And I joined the board at that point and got more involved with the company in 2021 and joined as CEO in 2022. So I've been super excited about the Cerapedics story for many years and happy to be CEO and be able to share more about the company today.

Thank you. Speaking of that, can you share a little bit more about Cerapedics? Currently, our subscribers come from spine-focused companies, orthopedic companies, so some may not know the name Cerapedics as well as I do, someone who's intimately involved in the bone replacement market. Can you share a little bit more about the history of Cerapedics?

VS: Yes, I'd be happy to. So Cerapedics is a global commercial-stage orthopedic company, and we have drug-device products that are focused on improving bone repair. We're headquartered in Colorado and have been a company for over a decade at this point. Drug device products take a fair amount of time to get onto the market in the US, and our products are used in spinal fusion procedures in the US and broader indications for bone repair in other geographies.

We have a first product, i-FACTOR, that has been available commercially for many years, and that has been used in over 200,000 patients since launch. And in the US, it's indicated for cervical spinal fusion. And just this last month we launched PearlMatrix, which is a bone growth accelerator that is indicated for  ...

 Curious about PearlMatrix, the next-generation bone growth accelerator recently launched in the US? To learn more, click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Cerapedics CEO Valeska Schroeder, conducted by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Sr Analyst, Spine & Bone Replacement.Get the Transcript

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3 min read

2025 NASS Innovation NetWORK Summit

By Erin Dorgan on 7/15/25 9:30 AM

NASS Executive Director and CEO Eric Muehlbauer discusses NASS’s new Innovation NetWORK Summit in an interview with SmartTRAK. 

SmartTRAK Senior Analyst Erin Dorgan interviewed North American Spine Society (NASS) Executive Director and CEO Eric Muehlbauer, MJ, CAE, at the new NASS Innovation NetWORK Summit held June 20-21, 2025 in Chicago. The Innovation NetWORK Summit is a novel meeting where surgeons, engineers, medtech and other spine professional can network and collaborate about bringing innovative spine devices to market.

To find out more about this new meeting, click on the following video to listen to the interview (11:46 min). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.


Interview Transcript

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Erin Dorgan with SmartTRAK. Today I am talking with Eric Muehlbauer, CEO and executive director of the North American Spine Society. Eric, thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. Can you share a little bit more about the meeting? Why is it important? And give some more details behind it.

Eric Muehlbauer: Thanks for having me on. We're very interested to see where this goes. NASS has always evolved as it needed to based on what's going on in the field. For a long time we were almost viewed as anti-industry with our ethics rules and things like that. What we've realized is that the field needs us to help stimulate innovation. There's lots of people who do innovation-type meetings or different tracks. We've got a particular reputation in the field, especially with payers, that might make this a little bit more interesting and get a little more traction. So I kind of call where we're at now, NASS 3.0, because we've had to evolve because of ...

Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with NASS Executive Director and CEO Eric Muehlbauer, conducted by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Sr. Analyst, Spine & Bone Replacement.Get the Transcript

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3 min read

Spinal Simplicity: Innovation in MIS Treatments Improving Patient Care

By Erin Dorgan on 7/11/25 11:00 AM

Spinal Simplicity’s Chief Strategy Officer Neil P. Dougherty shares how the company is advancing minimally invasive solutions to enhance patient outcomes.

Neil P. Dougherty, chief strategy officer of Spinal Simplicity, discusses the company’s position in the interventional spine and pain market, what the company looks forward to in the future and how it serves patients treated by spine surgeons and interventional pain management physicians.

Click on the following video (17:18 min) to learn more. A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.

 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Erin Dorgan with SmartTRAK. I'm here today with Neil Dougherty, chief strategy officer with Spinal Simplicity. Thanks for joining me today, Neil.

Neil P Dougherty: Glad to be here. Thanks, Erin.

You're welcome. Can you share a little bit more about what you do at Spinal Simplicity? I know, based upon your background, you've been in the interventional space for a while. How did you end up here at Spinal Simplicity?

NPD: Well, in a startup you wear a lot of hats. So I came to Spinal Simplicity first as a vice president of sales and then moved over to focus on just business development and more of an offensive role for our expansion. And as the company grew, an opportunity for promotion was there to get to my now title, chief strategy officer.

I have been in the interventional pain space for a long time. Gosh, it's about 15 years now. Started with Medtronic, doing spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal pumps--just over five years there. Then went over to Vertiflex in that startup campaign bought by Boston Scientific and only a year of integration there after that purchase.

And then how could you forget? When the whole world basically shut down during COVID, I was kind of losing my mind a little bit. I had a couple phone calls from some doctors and also Todd Moseley, the CEO of Spinal Simplicity, and founder. And I started learning more about Spinal Simplicity. I saw their main product, Minuteman. I was like, ‘This is where I need to be.’

Okay. So speaking of Minuteman, and obviously with your background, Boston Scientific recently discontinued Vertiflex Superion. Do you think that is an opportunity for Spinal Simplicity and Minuteman to explore those customers? Or how would you describe that?

NPD: I think so. I'd like to describe it as just an acceleration to where most of those customers were probably going to graduate anyway. Superion was a great idea. I mean, it wasn't even a Vertiflex idea. This is, indirect decompression has been a great studied spine idea for a long time and it certainly wasn't the first ISP out there, but the aim is ...

Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with Neil P. Dougherty, CSO of Spinal Simplicity conducted by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Sr Analyst, Spine & Bone Replacement.Get the Transcript

Topics: Spine
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3 min read

NASS Biologic Interventions 2025: Spotlight on Allumin8

By Erin Dorgan on 5/20/25 9:30 AM

Allumin8 CEO Alyssa Huffman discusses the company's novel therapeutic hardware during an interview with SmartTRAK at the 2025 NASS Biologic Interventions.

Alyssa Huffman, CEO of Allumin8, discussed the company and its efforts to create a new product category of therapeutic hardware in an interview with SmartTRAK on May 9, 2025, at the 2025 North American Spine Society (NASS) Biologics Interventions meeting in Chicago, Illinois. The company is focused on treating over 200 unique bone disorders and diseases, and its first product is focused on the Spinal Hardware Market.

Click on the following video (8:49 min) to learn more. A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.

 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Erin Dorgan, senior analyst here at SmartTRAK. I'm here today with Alyssa Huffman, CEO of ALLUMIN8. Alyssa, thank you for joining me today. Can you share a little bit more about your background and your role at ALLUMIN8?

Alyssa Huffman: Absolutely, Erin. Thanks for being here. I started in the clinic, then worked in the OR, went into sales, distribution. I worked my way into an executive function and then decided I was going to bet on myself. I have 30 years of experience throughout orthopedic spine biologics regenerative therapies.

That's awesome.

AH: And computer navigation.

Well, that's quite extensive. So we're here today at the NASS Biologic Interventions for Spinal Pathologies meeting. Why are you here with ALLUMIN8? What's the purpose for ALLUMIN8 presenting?

AH: Dr. Zorica Buser, she asked me to come and talk to the researchers and physicians about how to design a product that will actually commercialize and can get funded. There's a very different issue that's going on right now where products that only are a little bit, 1% to 3%, better than what's currently available on the market. There's a plethora of those, and so we have ...

Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Allumin8 CEO Alyssa Huffman, conducted by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Senior Analyst.Get the Transcript
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2 min read

Clinical Evidence Poised to Redefine the Bone Replacement Market in 2025 and Beyond

By Erin Dorgan on 4/29/25 9:10 AM

SmartTRAK discusses key products and compelling clinical evidence that may impact the Bone Replacement Market in 2025 and beyond.

SmartTRAK looks at what’s on the horizon in 2025 and beyond and highlights the innovation and product advances that could shake up the US Market for Bone Replacement, which is projected to reach a 5-year CAGR of +3.8% by 2028. In this article, SmartTRAK details the recent growth factors/peptides bone grafts that received the FDA’s Breakthrough Device Designation (BDD) and significant milestones in product development in 2024. It also discusses new clinical evidence challenging the belief that autologous bone is the most efficacious graft material.

Curious which companies and products are making waves? This downloadable market outlook article covers, among others:

  • Cerapedics' investigational P-15 Peptide Enhanced Bone Graft
  • Medtronic’s Infuse bone graft
  • Theradaptive's OsteoAdapt SP bone graft
  • Bone Biologics' NB1 bone graft
  • Locate Bio's LDGraft bone graft 
  • Renovos' Renovite BMP-2 bone graft 
  • CBBio's NOVOSIS Putty
  • Amphix Bio's  drug-device combination product for bone regeneration
  • Kuros Biosciences' MagnetOs Granules bone graft

With new growth factor/peptides bone grafts progressing with their timelines to the market and clinical data demonstrating superiority over autograft, the Bone Replacement market is primed to grow in 2025 and the coming years.

Click the button below to download and read the complete "Clinical Evidence Poised to Redefine the Bone Replacement Market in 2025 and Beyond" Market Outlook article by SmartTRAK Erin Dorgan, Sr Analyst.Get the Article

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2 min read

Bone Replacement Trends for 2025

By Erin Dorgan on 3/10/25 2:54 PM

SmartTRAK will be attending AAOS 2025 this week. Join us at AAOS to explore our solution and discuss our roadmap for expanding into other orthopedic markets. Learn more about our Brand Tracker here or schedule time to Meet with Us at the show!

Topics: Orthopedics
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3 min read

Musculoskeletal New Ventures Conference 2024

By Erin Dorgan on 12/3/24 9:40 AM

New spine technologies "pushed the envelope" at MNVC

The Musculoskeletal New Ventures Conference (MNVC) is an annual meeting where early and late-stage companies present their ideas. This meeting occurred in Memphis, Tennessee, from October 28 - 30, with a broad mix of attendees, including surgeons, venture capitalists, the medical device industry and researchers. Forty companies presented this year, a record number for this meeting, focused exclusively on the musculoskeletal industry. In this article, SmartTRAK highlights six companies with new technologies to "push the envelope" in the US Spinal Hardware Market, which SmartTRAK estimates is growing at a 5-year CAGR of +4.7%.

This downloadable article provides an in-depth look at the following six companies' innovative new technologies:

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2 min read

NASS 2024: Highlights from the Annual Meeting in Chicago

By Erin Dorgan on 10/15/24 9:30 AM

New products and clinical data continue to grow the spinal hardware and bone replacement markets.

The North American Spine Society (NASS) was buzzing with new technologies at its 39th annual meeting in Chicago, September 25-28. Over 4,000 medical registrants and industry personnel attended this year’s meeting. This is the largest spine-focused meeting in the US, and it supports the spinal hardware and bone replacement markets. SmartTRAK estimates the spinal hardware market is poised to post a 5-yr CAGR of +4.7%, and the bone replacement market in spine is expected to reach a 5-year CAGR of +3.5%.

In this market perspective article, SmartTRAK highlights ...

  • Spine Hardware Refreshed-The Latest Product Innovations
    • Pedicle Screws
    • Disc Prep
  • Bone Replacement Market - New Products for DBM
    • The Data Race Continues
    • Product Innovations
  • A Strong Showing from Korean Manufacturers
    • New this year at NASS was the Korean SpineTech Pavilion, sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Health Industry Development Institute. This pavilion housed smaller companies at one booth to showcase ...

Click the button below to download and read the complete "NASS 2024 Annual Meeting Highlights" market perspective article by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Senior Analyst, Spine.

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