SmartTRAK spotlights SentryX, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a non-opioid platform for the treatment of acute pain after surgery,​ in an interview at AAOS 2025 in San Diego. 

SentryX Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer Jorrit-Jan (JJ) Verlaan, MD, discusses the company’s novel implantable anesthetic for spine surgery applications in an interview with SmartTRAK at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2025 Annual meeting in San Diego. The hydrogel works with all types of small-molecule drugs with a release profile that can be tailored to specific clinical needs and surgical procedures.

To find out more about SentryX and its novel technology, listen to the following video. (13:37 min.) A link to download a transcript of the interview is also provided below.

Hi, I’m Kristine Jacques, a Senior Analyst with SmartTRAK Spine. We are here at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons 2025. I’m sitting down with Dr. JJ Verlaan, a spine surgeon, co-founder, and Chief Medical Officer for SentryX, a Netherlands-based company developing a groundbreaking non-opioid solution for postoperative pain. First of all, Dr. Verlaan, I want to congratulate you on being one of the top four finalists inthe OrthoPitch Event at the Academy this year. It’s quite an honor.

Dr. Jorrit-Jan Verlaan: Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for sitting down with the SmartTRAK team. I’d like to start out with you telling us about your background and how the idea came about for the Hydrogel and starting SentryX.

JJV: Thank you so much. I'm a surgeon from Utrecht in the Netherlands. I've been practicing spine surgery from the moment I got board-certified. Rapidly, during work in my practice, I noticed that patients after spine surgery are all in a lot of pain. The moment that you realize that, and you actually ask the patients how much pain they have, on a scale of 0-10 they sometimes respond with a 12. I had a chat with an anesthesiologist one day in between surgeries. We were discussing what is out there right now to treat pain. The anesthesiologist, she told me, "Well, not much, really. We're still relying on opioids. Maybe we could do something with local anesthetics, but it's not working long enough at this point." That kind of sparked the idea of doing something locally to treat the pain, but differently. Soon after, I hit upon the idea that we're developing right now in the company.

How far along are you in the development?

JJV: We started in 2017, together with my partner Bas Oosterman who is the CEO of the company. First it was just a raw idea. We soon found out that this idea, it had never been done before. That gave us the opportunity to actually file IP on our solution and go for it. At the end of 2017  we officially founded the company. We got our first employees and collaborated with a renowned institute on biofabrication. We developed a new ...

Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with SentryX Co-Founder and CMO Jorrit-Jan (JJ) Verlaan, MD, conducted by Kris Jacques, SmartTRAK Sr Analyst.

ISASS’s Morgan Lorio, MD, president-elect, discusses the obstacles to adopting emerging technologies in spine surgery and the importance of advocating for policy changes to support innovative treatments and improve patient outcomes in an interview with SmartTRAK.

Key topics discussed include ISASS’s successful efforts in addressing coding and reimbursement challenges to ensure access to innovative treatments for patients, the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on reimbursement, the new ICD-10 codes for discogenic pain, regenerative spine treatments, future directions and initiatives for ISASS and fostering collaboration between industry stakeholders and surgeon societies.

SmartTRAK was on-site at NASS 2023 covering the latest spine trends including hosting the hottest reception in town, “Targeting the ASC, What Spine Companies Need to Know."

Shifting hospital-based procedures to the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is one of the biggest opportunities for healthcare savings and the opportunity is especially great for spine given its high acuity procedures like lateral lumbar fusions, 360 fusions and total disc replacements (TDRs) according to the results of SmartTRAK’s recent survey of 30 ortho, spine and neurosurgeons. At this year’s North American Society (NASS) Annual Meeting held in Los Angeles, CA October 18-21, SmartTRAK hosted a standing-room-only reception for industry on the migration of spine procedures into the ASC titled “Targeting the ASC: What Manufacturers Need to Know,” which included panel discussions and presentations focused on the spine market and practice trends. In this article, SmartTRAK highlights the top takeaways from the reception and identifies the latest trends and innovations at NASS affecting growth in the US Spine Market. Topics covered in the article include:

• New Care Models Optimizing Outpatient Spine
• The Motion Preservation “Renaissance” was Hard to Miss
• MIS SI Joint Fusion Systems – A Plethora of Systems, New Devices Launching Ahead of 2024 Reimbursement Changes.
• Will New Interbody Technologies Displace the Need for Biologics?
• Deals Abound: Several Biologics Deals Announced at NASS and After

To download and read the complete "NASS 2023: Trends, Advancing Technologies and New Deals Shaping the Future of Spine" article by Kris Jacques,  SmartTRAK's GM, Spine, just click the button below.

Ready to dive into one of the most rapidly expanding markets in the world of Spine? Welcome to the realm of SI Joint Fusion, a market poised for remarkable growth with a projected 5-year CAGR of +18%. At SmartTRAK, we’re excited to introduce you to this thriving sector and give you a sneak peek of our forthcoming in-depth market segment solution subscription.

Outlined below is a brief list highlighting some of the key insights awaiting you upon subscribing to SmartTRAK's innovative solution and the valuable knowledge it delivers:

• Market Overview (US only/MIS market only):
  - Incidence and Prevalence: Understand the scale of SI Joint Fusion cases.
  - Market Size: Explore the market's current size and potential.
  - Revenue/Procedure Forecast through 2027: Take a look at expected future growth by market segments; transfixing and non-transfixing.
  - Growth Trends: Stay ahead with insights into emerging trends.
• Competitive Landscape:
  - By System Type: Discover the differences between Transfixing and Non-transfixing.
  - 2022 ASP Data Summary: Gain access to crucial pricing information.
• National/Regional Site of Service Procedure Volume Data:
  - HOPD vs ASC vs. Inpatient: Know where these procedures are performed.     - Annual Trends from 2017: Track the historical data for insights. 
• Coding & Reimbursement - 2024 Outlook:
  - Anticipate changes in coding and reimbursement for the coming year.
• Why MIS SIJ Fusion Matters:
  Within the vast Spine landscape, the Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) SI Joint Fusion procedure category is the star of the show. Here's why:
  - Growing Awareness and Diagnosis: More individuals are recognizing SI joint pain as a significant issue.
  - Robust Clinical Data: The body of clinical evidence is expanding.
  - Increasing Reimbursement Coding: Hospitals, HOPDs, ASCs and Physician's offices.
• The Future of MIS SI Joint Fusion:
  Acceptance of the posterior/dorsal non-transfixing MIS SI fusion approach is on the rise. This process is set to drive procedural growth and popularity, particularly among interventional pain physicians at Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs).
  
  

So are you ready to dive into one of the most rapidly expanding markets in the world of Spine? Don’t miss your chance to stay ahead of the curve in the booming world of SI Joint Fusion and Be The Expert! Just click the button below to find out more.