ATLANTA, Nov. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Vertera Spine, a developer of medical devices using advanced biomaterial technologies, today announced that the COHERE® Cervical Interbody Fusion Device has been recognized by Orthopedics This Week as one of the Top Ten Best Spine Technologies for 2016. COHERE features Vertera Spine’s patented porous PEEK (polyetheretherketone) Scoria®biomaterial technology, a porous architecture that seamlessly integrates with solid PEEK to mimic the cancellous to cortical transition of native bone.
Every year, Orthopedics This Week recognizes the engineering teams and inventors who develop and successfully translate innovative products into clinical use to treat back pain. This year, winning technologies were selected based on creativity, innovation, demonstrated ability to solve a critical clinical problem and their potential long-term impact on improving spine surgery.
While porous metal and porous metal-coated PEEK implants have found their way into spine fusion applications, COHERE is the first and only porous PEEK fusion device to reach clinical use. By having porous PEEK Scoria on the superior and inferior sides, COHERE provides an environment that supports bony tissue ingrowth while retaining the mechanical properties and imaging capabilities of traditional PEEK. COHERE has been available under a limited market release to a select group of surgeons since May 2016.
COHERE was considered a viable recipient of this year’s Spine Technology Award due to the extensive research presented on porous PEEK Scoria. The biomaterial’s mechanical properties and in vitro cellular response are reported in a study recently published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.1 Performed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, results of the study show that porous PEEK elicits an elevated in vitro osteogenic response compared with both smooth PEEK and smooth titanium. While prior studies have shown a similar improved osteogenic response on porous titanium, this is the first study to suggest PEEK Scoria’s porous architecture can improve the osteogenic response to PEEK. Furthermore, the study also revealed that porous PEEK Scoria exhibits the appropriate fatigue strength to withstand loading seen in the spine and a higher interfacial shear strength than bone. Likewise, another study recently published in Journal of Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials demonstrates that PEEK Scoria maintains its porous architecture under similar compressive loading seen in the spine while also exhibiting the same wear resistance as regular PEEK.
“We are honored to have our COHERE cervical device with porous PEEK Scoria technology selected amongst an elite group of cutting-edge technologies,” said Stephen Laffoon, Vertera Spine director of Engineering and one of the COHERE device inventors. “The recent publication of studies on porous PEEK Scoria exemplifies our continued commitment to not only validate our own porous PEEK technology, but also advance the fundamental understanding around the role of the implant in driving osseointegration.”
About Vertera Spine:
Vertera Spine is a privately-held medical device company that develops and commercializes multifunctional implants that use or complement its patented porous technology to address critical clinical needs in spine surgery. The company has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Georgia Research Alliance, and Duke Angel Network to translate its growing technology portfolio into commercial products. For more information, visit www.verteraspine.com or call 678.705.9039.
COHERE and Scoria are registered trademarks of Vertera Spine.
1Torstrick FB, Gall K, et al. Do Surface Porosity and Pore Size Influence Mechanical Properties and Cellular Response to PEEK? Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 2016. 474 (11): 2373-2383.
2Evans NT, Gall K, et al. Local deformation behavior of surface porous polyether-ether-ketone. Journal of Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 2017. 65: 522-532.
SOURCE Vertera Spine
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