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.

James Voos, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland Browns team physician, and president of the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS), shares his goals for the society and offers insight into how he is using biotechnology to monitor recovery, prevent further injuries, and safely return athletes to competition.

James Voos, MD, president of the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS), discusses the society's efforts to standardize care for NFL players across the league in an interview with SmartTRAK at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) 2025 Annual Meeting recently held in Nashville, TN.

Dr. Voos also shares an update on ongoing clinical research for osteoarthritis treatment with stem cells. To listen to the interview, please click on the following video (4:18 minutes). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is alsoprovided below. 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Dave Shepard. I'm here at the AOSSM 2025. Keep watching for my interview with Dr. James Voos, who is the team physician for the Cleveland Browns, and also the president of the NFL Physicians’ Society. Dr. Voos, thanks for joining us.

James Voos, MD: Thank you very much for the invitation. I appreciate it.

Excellent. Tell me a little bit about the NFL PS and a little bit about what you're doing, what your initiatives are, what your goals are.

JV: As president of the NFL Physician Society, we represent all of the physicians that provide care for our professional athletes in football. That's not only our orthopedic surgeons, but our medical physicians and all of our associated consultants. So we help to provide standards for how to practice across the league, and that way we assure that every athlete and every team has ...

Interested in how biotechnology can be used to monitor recovery, prevent further injuries and safely return athletes to competition? Click
the button below to download the full transcript of SmartTRAK GM/Sr Analyst David Shepard's interview of James Voos, MD, president of the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS) from AOSSM 2025.

SmartTRAK provides insights into the latest trends, research and consensus opinions in surgical Orthobiologic treatments and non-operative regenerative medicine from this year’s BA Summit and AANA meetings.

Dr Cheryl Blanchard, president and CEO of Anika Therapeutics, discusses the company, technology and developments for future growth in an interview with SmartTRAK.

In a recent interview with SmartTRAK, Dr. Cheryl Blanchard, president and CEO of Anika Therapeutics, discussed the company’s strategic direction, proprietary technology and advancements in its next-generation osteoarthritis (OA) pain management and regenerative solutions.

To find out more about the company, its differentiated technologies, products and growth strategy, click on the following video (26:40 min).

Interview topics by timecode are provided below, as is a link to download a complete transcript of the interview.

Interview Outline by Timecode:

00:20 Introduction to Anika Therapeutics, president and CEO Dr. Cheryl Blanchard and the company’s strategy.
01:14 The US OA Injectables Market and Anika’s next-generation OA pain solution, Cingal.
02:52 Cingal’s advantages and how it fit in the treatment continuum.
04:56 Cingal’s positioning and clinical trials’ progress.
10:47 Marketing communication, commercial and pricing approach and beyond knee OA.
13:42 Hyalofast, Anika’s next-generation cartilage repair solution.
17:25 Anika’s regenerative platform and the Integrity Implant System.
19:54 Cheryl Blanchard’s take on the next major disruptive force.
22:42 Thoughts around healthcare policy changes, tariffs uncertainty and other macro trends.

Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with Dr. Cheryl Blanchard, president and CEO of Anika Therapeutics, conducted by  Freddy Buntoum, SmartTRAK Senior Analyst, Orthobiologics and Regenerative Medicine.

Thomas Lash, COO and co-founder of Aatru Medical, talks about the company’s innovative single-use negative pressure device, NP-Sims, a Negative Pressure Surgical Incision Management System.

Thomas Lash, chief operating officer and co-founder of Aatru Medical elaborates on the company’s strategy to mitigate the risk of surgical site infections through NP-SIMS, their single-use negative pressure surgical incision management system. To listen to the interview, please click on the following video (21:21 minutes). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is provided below. 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is David Shepard, senior analyst with SmartTRAK. Today it's my pleasure to be joined by Tom Lash, COO and co-founder of Aatru. He's going to talk to us today about a product that he co-invented, called NPSims. Tom, tell us a little about your company and about the product.

Tom Lash: We started the business about eight years ago, a small research and commercialization team with the goal of developing an alternative solution for the single-use, disposable negative pressure wound therapy market.  Kind of a mouthful to say that, but in essence, what we were trying to do is looking at the predicate devices that are on the market, we knew that if we were going to try and have a product that could make an impact on that market segment, it would be necessary for us to find an innovative mode of action to create the negative pressure without the current use of electromechanical pump which powers the leading products that are in use today. They have an electromechanical pump. They're battery-operated. They have software. Those products were primarily devised for the open or chronic wound market, and because of our focus on the surgical incision market, we were able to design something that was different. We believe the current products are probably over-engineered for the surgical incision market. So, our approach was to devise ...

Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with  Aatru Medical's Co-Founder and COO Thomas Lash, conducted by  David Shepard, SmartTRAK Lead Analyst, Orthobio & Regen.

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.

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.