CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 7, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATEC), the parent company of Alphatec Spine, Inc., a leading medical technology company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders, with a focus on treating conditions affecting the aging spine, announced today the launch of ProFUSE demineralized bone scaffold, expanding the Company's orthobiologics product line.
The ProFUSE demineralized bone scaffold is a porous, malleable allograft that can be used with Alphatec Spine's Novel(r) Spacers and AlphaGRAFT(tm) structural allografts. The ProFUSE product provides a natural scaffold derived entirely of bone that can be placed into a void within a spacer or on top of a spacer. The sponge-like qualities of the ProFUSE scaffold allows a surgeon to compress the ProFUSE and place it into a small space. Following placement, the ProFUSE scaffold will expand to foster maximum contact between the spacer and the endplate of the vertebral body and is designed to promote fusion. The ProFUSE product comes pre-packaged in Alphatec Spine's new and proprietary vacuum infusion packaging system (VIP).
In addition, Alphatec Spine expects to launch AlphaGRAFT structural allograft spacers packaged in the VIP to the market in early 2009.
"Our ProFUSE demineralized bone scaffold and VIP packaging, directly supports our strategy of expanding our product portfolio with innovative orthobiologics solutions. This launch compliments Alphatec Spine's product offering and affords a significant opportunity to participate in the $1.7 billion U.S. orthobiologics market," said Dirk Kuyper, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alphatec Spine.
The U.S. orthopedic biomaterials market is estimated to be $1.7 billion in 2008 growing to $2.1 billion by 2011.
About Alphatec Spine
Alphatec Spine, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATEC). Alphatec Spine is a medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders, with a focus on treating conditions affecting the aging spine. The company's mission is to combine world-class customer service with innovative, surgeon-driven design that will help improve the aging patient's quality of life. The company is poised to achieve its goal through new solutions for patients with osteoporosis and other aging spine deformities, improved minimally invasive products and techniques and integrated biologics solutions. In addition to its U.S. operations, Alphatec Spine also markets its spine products in Europe. In Asia, the company markets a broad line of spine and orthopedic products through its subsidiary, Alphatec Pacific, Inc. For more information, please visit www.alphatecspine.com.
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Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainty. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: Alphatec Spine's ability to accelerate new product momentum, bring to market differentiated products and commercialize its product pipeline. Alphatec Spine cautions investors that there can be no assurance that actual results or business conditions will not differ materially from those projected or suggested in such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the following: the growth rate of the spine market related to aging and elderly patients, uncertainty of success in developing new products or products currently in Alphatec Spine's pipeline, including the successful launch of the ProFuse demineralized bone scaffold and vacuum infusion packaging, and those products that are intended to treat disorders prevalent in aging patients, failure to achieve acceptance of Alphatec Spine's products, including the ProFuse demineralized bone scaffold and vacuum infusion packaging, by the surgeon community, failure to obtain FDA clearance or approval for new products, Alphatec Spine's ability to develop and expand its business in the United States, Asia and Europe, continuation of favorable third party payor reimbursement for procedures performed using Alphatec Spine's products, unanticipated expenses or liabilities or other adverse events affecting cash flow or Alphatec Spine's ability to successfully control its costs or achieve profitability, uncertainty of additional funding, Alphatec Spine's ability to compete with other competing products and with emerging new technologies, product liability exposure, patent infringement claims and claims related to Alphatec Spine's intellectual property. Please refer to the risks detailed from time to time in Alphatec Spine's SEC reports, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, reports on Form 8-K and annual reports on Form 10-K. Alphatec Spine disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, unless required by law.