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SmartTRAK Life Sciences News and Analysis Blog

2 min read

AANA 2025: Spotlight on ZuriMED

By Emily Meng on 5/30/25 10:01 AM

Tom Borg discusses ZuriMED and its new FDA-cleared product, FiberLocker, in an interview with SmartTRAK at AANA in Washington, DC.

ZuriMED Technologies’ Tom Borg discusses the company and its recently FDA-cleared product, FiberLocker, in an interview with SmartTRAK at the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) Annual Meeting, held May 8-10, 2025, in Washington, DC. 

To find out more about the company and its novel FiberLocker System, a combination product comprised of SpeedPatch, a synthetic, non-woven polyethylene terephthalate (PET) patch and FiberLocker Instrument, which delivers and fixates the patch onto the repaired tendon, listen to the following video (4:13 min). A link to download a transcript of the interview is also provided below. 

 

SmartTRAK: Hi. This is Emily Meng with SmartTRAK, and I’m here with Tom from ZuriMED. Hi, Tom.

Tom Borg: Good morning, Emily.

Tom, why don’t you tell us about FiberLock System and how you differentiate it from your competitors.

TB: So, FiberLocker is unique in that it focuses on the mechanical component of what is typically the reason rotator cuff repairs fail. They fail usually at the suture tendon interface. And so there has been a lot of effort over the past 10 to 20 years in trying to augment the integrity of the rotator cuff with biologics and different suturing configurations. But the unfortunate truth is, the quality and consistency of the tendon still remains quite poor and compromised. So ZuriMED, with the help of some very talented engineers and a brilliant surgeon idea, developed a...

Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Zurimed's Tom Borg at AANA 2025, conducted by SmartTRAK's Emily Meng, Get the Transcript
Topics: Arthroscopy
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4 min read

Spotlight on VISIE: AAOS 2025 OrthoPitch Winner

By Elise Wolf on 5/27/25 9:30 AM

VISIE CEO Doug Fairbanks discusses the company’s 3D scanning technologies and its vision for the future of enabling technology in orthopedics in an interview with SmartTRAK.

At this year’s American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting in San Diego, orthopedic startups were in the spotlight in the second annual OrthoPitch event, a Shark Tank-like competition sponsored, in part, by SmartTRAK. Medtech startup VISIE rose to the top to win the event out of forty applicants. VISIE’s optical scanning technology uses white and infrared light, provides non-invasive ‘snap’ registration in under a second, and can be used with or without CT to drive surgical robotic arm positioning without tracking arrays. Doug Fairbanks, CEO of VISIE, discussed the company and its goal to introduce pinless tracking for orthopedic procedures in a recent interview with SmartTRAK.

To find out more, listen to the following video (18:18 min). Below is a link to download the complete transcript of the interview. 

 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Elise Wolf, VP and GM of Orthopedics and Enabling Technology at SmartTRAK. Today, I'm speaking with Doug Fairbanks, CEO of VISIE. Welcome, Doug. And I want to start out by congratulating you and the entire VISIE team for winning this year's AAOS OrthoPitch event.

Doug Fairbanks: Hi. Thank you, Elise. Thank you for having me. And we're all excited.

It's no small feat. I think it was 40 applicants vying for a spot to pitch their company and technology at the finals. And then you were up against three other companies in the finals, 16 BIT, Auctus Surgical and SentryX to be crowned this year's winner. I'm really excited to share with our subscribers a little bit more about VISIE and your vision for the company. So why don't you give a little background about yourself and about the company?

DF: Thank you. First of all, that was a really remarkable competition for us, and the competition was really stiff, right? We talked to a lot of folks in a lot of places, and it's rare that we run up against competition that I think is so profound and so talented, and delivers so much value for patients in the future. So we were very pleased to be the top on that day and we're excited for the recognition of the company. My name's Doug Fairbanks. I'm the president and CEO of VISIE, formerly Advanced Scanners. I've been in orthopedics for about 15 years. I spent the entirety of my career kind of at the intersection of technology, the OR and commercialization.

I've had the pleasure of working in a lot of different roles with a bunch of different companies. Zimmer, DePuy, I worked at Brainlab in the orthopedics unit for a while, and was really close to how technology integrates with patients. And I'm excited that when I saw what Advanced Scanners was doing at the time, I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned to my wife and I said, ‘I have to go there. I have to go work at that company. That is something special. That is something that's going to change the world.’ And here I am a little over two and a half years later and the company is doing remarkable things. I feel bad that I get to stand in front of everybody and take credit and say we're great. But there's a bunch of really remarkable, very intelligent people who work in the office here, who show up every day and push to the very edge of what is scientifically possible for the benefit of patients and surgeons.

I love it. I think what you're doing is really a paradigm shift in the enabling technology space. So could you describe a little bit about what is the technology with the 3D scanners and what really you're aiming to do, and how you're looking to change the landscape?

DF: When I think about the challenges of the OR, we really have to think as a startup, are we locked onto a problem? Do we see that there's an opportunity to do better? And years ago, I asked myself, ‘Hey, are computers and technology going to be more or less part of our lives going forward?’

I think surgeons are asking themselves the same question, ‘How do I use the benefits or utilize all that computing has to offer, while still integrating into my practice and treating patients in the only way that surgeons can do?’

So when we looked at the problem of robotics, navigation and AR-VR, we realized that ...

Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Visie President and CEO Douglas Fairbanks conducted by Elise Wolf, GM & VP, SmartTRAK Orthopedics & Quality.Get the Transcript
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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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3 min read

ISASS 2025: Spotlight on Surgical Theater

By Elise Wolf on 5/13/25 9:30 AM

SmartTRAK highlights Surgical Theater and its novel 3D visualization technology at ISASS 2025.

Dennis Roy, director of product management at Surgical Theater, discusses the company and its novel 3D visualization technology in an interview with SmartTRAK at the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) 2025 Annual Conference in Miami, Florida, April 10-12, 2025. The technology merges multiple imaging modalities into a patient-specific model that surgeons can leverage across the entire patient continuum of care. The comprehensive “eXperiential Reality” (XR) environment includes augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality and artificial intelligence.

Click on the following video to find out more (2:45 min). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below. 

Interview

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Elise Wolf at SmartTRAK. Today I am with Dennis Roy, director of product management at Surgical Theater. We're here at the ISASS meeting.

Dennis Roy: Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, Dennis. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about Surgical Theater and your technology?

DR: So, Surgical Theater is a 3D visualization company. We specialize in taking multiple modalities and merging them into a patient-specific model. So, the idea is that overall we are able to design, we're able to display and deliver a full, comprehensive solution that the surgeon is able to take across the patient care continuum. So, from engagement with the patient themselves, building a surgical plan and then being able to bring that plan into the operating room.

And what kind of imaging do you use to create your models?

DR: So, with ours we can actually incorporate CTs and MRIs as well as ...

Want to know more about Surgical Theater and its novel 3D visualization technology? Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Dennis Roy, Director of Product Mgmt, Surgical Theater, Inc., conducted by Elise Wolf, GM & VP, SmartTRAK Orthopedics & Quality. Get the Transcript

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3 min read

CytexOrtho: Regenerative Medicine Solutions for Osteoarthritis

By Emily Meng on 5/6/25 10:17 AM

SmartTRAK spotlights CytexOrtho, the AAOS 2024 OrthoPitch winner, as it develops its biodegradable implant to address early joint degeneration. 

In this interview with SmartTRAK, CytexOrtho CEO Brad Estes, PhD, discusses the company’s cartilage repair implant, ReNewHip, an engineered bicomponent implant used for cartilage regeneration.

To find out more about CytexOrtho and its technology, click the image below to watch the video (26:37 min). A link to download a transcript of the interview is also provided below.

 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Emily Meng with SmartTrak. Today I'm here with CytexOrtho CEO Brad Estes. Thanks, Brad, for joining me today.

Bradley Estes: Yeah, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

So, we'll just jump in and start asking you some questions. Let’s start with can you tell me about yourself and your background and how you got started with CytexOrtho.

BE: Yeah, it was kind of a circuitous route to get here. I started my career in the Medtech industry with Sofamor Danek, which was eventually acquired by Medtronic, and kind of did a lot of R&D in the heyday of spine, I like to say it, and was even on the team that did BMP-2. So that was a lot of fun seeing the role of a biologic in orthopedics and what that could really do to change the way patients are treated. And so I spent about eight years in Medtronic and then I left industry, came to academia, did a PhD at Duke and kind of retooled and learned the molecular biology, the stem cell biology, the tissue engineering and just kind of gained a whole new skill set. I got to work with some really great people and that kind of set us off on our journey of where we are today and kind of tie in some product development experience with science and having the right time and the right people and the right funding to push forward with CytexOrtho. And I'm sure I caused more questions in that response than answered, but I'm happy to fill in the gaps, too.

Can you tell us a little bit about CytexOrtho and what you guys are doing, and specifically, I guess, for ReNew Hip, since that's your product that is under development.

BE: So, our goal from the beginning has been to treat that patient that currently has no solutions. I'm talking the patient in their 30s, 40s or 50s that have early-stage hip disease, but they have no solutions right now. Their plight is kind of sad if you think about it. They go see their doctor, they have some hip pain, they're starting to not be able to do the things they want to do. And so, they take some ibuprofen, do some PT, and let's come back and see me in a year and that progresses for about seven or eight years typically. That's what our data tells us. That patient is just living with more chronic pain and increasing disability over that eight years until finally they can't take it anymore and then they replace their hip. And so, our technology is ...

Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Brad Estes, CEO of CytexOrtho, conducted by  SmartTRAK analyst Emily Meng.Download the Transcript
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2 min read

Trends to Watch in 2025: Interventional Technologies Disrupting the Treatment of CLBP

By Kris Jacques on 4/29/25 9:30 AM

SmartTRAK discusses the latest technologies disrupting the standard of care for chronic low back pain (CLBP)

Non-surgical and less invasive treatment options for CLBP continue to evolve, closing the gap between conservative management and surgical intervention. SmartTRAK estimates that over 450K surgical procedures were performed for low back pain in the US in 2024. However, the number of patients suffering from CLBP is far more significant, and we estimate that over 11 million patients can be treated with new, non-surgical and less invasive technologies.

The treatment approach for spinal back pain starts with conservative measures and progresses to more invasive treatments, depending on the severity and nature of the pain. Treating patients earlier in the cascade can delay the progression and reduce the need for more costly care.
 
In this downloadable article, SmartTRAK discusses the companies and technologies advancing earlier intervention with the potential for disrupting the standard of care cascade, including non-surgical Intradiscal therapeutics and MIS restorative therapies. The article also covers the ongoing shift from spine surgeons to interventionists and the increasingly prominent role of interventional pain physicians. 
 
Click the button below to read the complete Market Outlook article "Trends to Watch in 2025: Interventional Technologies Disrupting the Treatment of CLBP" by Kris Jacques, SmartTRAK  Sr Analyst, Spine and Intradiscal Therapeutics.Get the Article
Topics: Spine
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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

Perfuze: Building, Innovating and Simplifying Stroke Care

By Anne Staylor on 4/28/25 10:10 AM

Perfuze CEO Wayne Allen discusses the company, its novel technology and how the company plans to capture share in the US Market for Mechanical Thrombectomy Devices in an interview with SmartTRAK. 

To see the full interview, click on the following video (32:35 min). An outline of the interview by timecode and a link to download a transcript of the interview are provided below.


Interview Topics by Timecode: 

00:07 Perfuze CEO Wayne Allen discusses his background, the company and its mission.
03:26 Overview of Perfuze technology and products.
07:05 Regulatory approvals and clinical research
08:43 Status of MARRS IDE Study and future plans. Seeking a standalone thrombectomy indication.
11:08 Differentiating Millipede 088 Catheter and competing in the market.
15:40 Status of Millipede 088’s limited market release in the US, commercial strategy, and obtaining real-world insights.
19:29 Funding and timeline to finance and accelerate commercial expansion, clinical, R&D initiatives and pipeline.
21:18 Long-term goals, future innovations/indications and growth.
24:47 Strategic vision, capturing share and market positioning.
27:13 Addressing uncertainties, supply chain challenges, tariffs and future outlook.
28:46 What’s next for Perfuze and closing remarks.
 
Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Perfuze CEO Wayne Allen, in which he discusses his company, its novel technology and strategies for growth in the US Market for Mechanical Thrombectomy. Anne Staylor, SmartTRAK Executive Editor, VP & GM of Neuro Therapies, conducted the interview.Download the Transcript
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3 min read

SentryX: Implantable Anesthetic for Spine Surgery

By Kris Jacques on 4/22/25 9:30 AM

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.Download the Transcript

Topics: Spine
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2 min read

Impact of LCD Postponement on the US Skin Substitutes Market

By Kris Flinn on 4/21/25 3:55 PM

Wound GM Kris Flinn and Senior Analysts Elizabeth Anderson and Jay Merkel discuss the impact of delay and how industry players may choose to react.

On April 11, 2025, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Venous Leg Ulcers Final Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) effective date will be delayed until January 1, 2026. In this video (16:43 minutes), SmartTRAK Wound GM Kris Flinn and Senior Analysts Elizabeth Anderson and Jay Merkel discuss the impact of delay, and how industry players may choose to react.

 

The SmartTRAK Wound Team will be in attendance at the upcoming SAWC Spring conference in Grapevine, TX (April 30 to May 4). Please register here to meet the team.Meet The Team

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