Written By: Jeff Engel
It’s hard enough for a small company to jostle for position in a crowded, but booming, industry. It can be even tougher when the sector’s growth slows down, and a company isn’t fighting just against competitors—but also to win over critics who are skeptical that anyone in the industry can deliver a product or service that consistently works.
That’s the challenge that Titan Spine, a Mequon, WI-based manufacturer of metal implants used in spinal fusion surgeries, is up against. 
The company, co-founded a decade ago by Wisconsin spinal surgeon Peter Ullrich, makestitanium cages of various shapes and sizesfor use in procedures that fuse together vertebrae in the lower back or neck of patients who have degenerative disc disease, an often-painful deterioration of the soft, elastic tissue located between vertebrae.
In these procedures, the surgeon removes the diseased disc and inserts the device between the vertebrae, often securing it with metal screws or rods. The implant acts as a spacer between the vertebrae, and bone taken from another part of the patient’s body can be inserted in the cage’s cavity, in the hopes that it helps secure the titanium device by growing through it and melding with the vertebrae above and below.
The goal is to relieve pain by stabilizing the spine and restricting its motion. But this type of surgery isn’t guaranteed to eliminate the pain, and it carries risks, including the potential for an incomplete fusion with the vertebrae, which could warrant additional surgery.