Posted in Medical Device Business by Arundhati Parmar
Cerapedics has developed the only FDA-approved bone graft approved for the cervical spine, which it believes can improve spinal fusion procedures. 
Spinal fusion has been the gold standard for treating degenerative disc disease, but technology advances are either challenging it or transforming the procedure with the goal to improve how spinal fusion procedures are done.
Cerapedics, based in Westminster, Colorado, falls in this latter category.
The company has developed the FDA-approved i-Factor bone graft that seeks to improve the level of fusion that is achieved when spinal fusions are done in the cervical spine. The bone graft uses a synthetic small peptide bound to an anorganic bone mineral (ABM) where the latter provides a scaffolding and source of calcium for new bone growth. When spinal fusion is done with i-Factor, the peptide mimins how a type of collagen binds cells, thereby creating a more favorable environment that boosts cell attachment to the ABM scaffold.
FDA approved i-Factor in November making it the second bone graft in the market to be approved behind Medtronic’s InFuse which, however, is approved for the lumbar spine.