Founder of Small Bone Innovations Leaves Company

The founder of Small Bone Innovations Inc. (SBI), a Morrisville, Pa.-based orthopedic technology company, has left the firm after eight years. Anthony G. Viscogliosi (pictured left) is returning to the merchant banking business but is leaving SBI in the hands of Michael P. Simpson, who was appointed president and CEO in February 2012. Viscogliosi’s last post at the company was executive chairman.

Viscogliosi said he ended his tenure at SBI to take advantage of growing opportunities in the neuro-musculoskeletal orthopedics industry. He will resume full-time activities as a principal of Viscogliosi Brothers LLC (VB), a merchant banking, venture capital and private equity business that focuses in orthopedic technology.

“Today, SBI is the only pure-play small bone and joint (SBJ) arthroplasty and reconstruction company—with critical mass in revenues, products, balance sheet and global distribution,” Viscogliosi said. “The company is profitable and growing rapidly, having achieved leadership in the $3 billion SBJ space—the fastest growing segment of the orthopedic device market. VB identified and redefined SBJ treatment as a growth opportunity nearly a decade ago. Having actualized that potential it is time to focus on replicating SBI’s success with VB’s other investments in the neuro-musculoskeletal orthopedics industry.”

VB formed SBI in 2005 by rolling up a few small companies with established products to create a more comprehensive arthroplasty and joint-related trauma reconstruction company. The STAR Total Ankle, acquired by VB and cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009, has helped SBI cement its footprint in the orthopedic technology sector.

Previously, Viscogliosi co-founded and acted as chairman and CEO of Spine Solutions Inc. before it was sold in 2003 to the (now) DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson & Johnson for $350 million. He also was a co-founder and board member of the company that subsequently became Ascent Healthcare Solutions Inc. and was sold to Stryker Corp. for $525 million in 2009.

Simpson was named president and CEO last year in preparation for Viscogliosi’s departure. During his career as a division president at Orthofix Holdings Inc., an orthopedic devices company with $575 million in reported revenues in 2011, Simpson managed the global development and international distribution of the firm’s product portfolio, including foot and ankle technologies.

“Our job now,” said Simpson, “is to ensure the company [SBI] and its products become synonymous with the gold standards for preserving the small bones and joints.”

Now that Viscogliosi has moved on, Simpson will report to the SBI board of directors. He is also a member of both SBI’s operating and executive committees. As president and CEO, all officers of the company report to him.

“SBI has a record of redefining the small bone and joint sector by introducing arthroplasty and joint-related trauma technologies such as the STAR Total Ankle and the line of RingFIX lower limb products designed to treat patients with diabetic foot complications,” Simpson said at the time of his appointment last year. “This…platform offers an opportunity to leverage my skills and experience to help SBI extend its penetration of the rapidly growing $3.3 billion small bone and joint market.”