08.12.22
Rank: #7 (Last year: #7)
$1.13 Billion
Prior Fiscal: $1.05 Billion
Percentage Change: +8.4%
R&D Expenditure: $92.6 Million
Best FY21 Quarter: Q4 $302M
Latest Quarter: Q1 $290.7M
No. of Employees: 2,900
Global Headquarters: San Diego, Calif.
KEY EXECUTIVES:
Chris Barry, CEO
Dale Wolf, SVP, Global Operations
Matt Harbaugh, Exec. VP and CFO
Ryan Donahoe, SVP and Chief Technology Officer
Kyle Malone, VP, Scientific Affairs
Massimo Calafiore, Exec. VP and Chief Commercial Officer
Sean Freeman, SVP, Strategy and Corporate Development
Aviva McPherron, SVP, Information Technology
Cheetahs are naturally built for speed.
Their slender, lightweight body, oversized heart, small head, and long legs enable the big cats to accelerate faster than most sports cars (0-60 mph in three seconds) and execute mid-air turns while running. The animal’s flexible spine curves with each stride, acting as a spring for its hind legs, while its pivoting hip and unattached shoulder joints provide the necessary rotation to induce remarkable sprinting prowess (strides up to 25 feet) and speed (50-80 mph).
The cheetah’s claws and tail are vital accelerants as well. They gain incredible ground traction from their blunt, semi-retractable claws, and maneuverability from their tail.
Speed, however, is not the cheetah’s only defining quality—the felines also possess prey-specific hunting tactics. Belfast researchers, for example, found that cheetahs temper their hunting speeds to match and outmaneuver their prey’s various escape strategies. The animals intentionally slow their stride to make sharp turns in concert with their intended victims; the result, scientists noted, is a “deadly tango between the hunter and the hunted, with one mirroring the escape tactics of the other.”
“...we now know that rather than a simple maximum speed chase, cheetahs first accelerate towards their quarry before slowing down to mirror prey-specific escaping tactics,” explained Dr. Michael Scantlebury, senior lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast School of Biological Sciences. “We suggest that cheetahs modulate their hunting speed to enable rapid turns in a predator-prey arms race, where pace is pitted against agility. Basically, cheetahs have clear different chase strategies depending on prey species...our previous concept of cheetah hunts being simple high-speed, straight-line dashes to catch prey is clearly wrong. They engage in a complex duel of speed, acceleration, braking, and rapid turns with ground rules that vary from prey to prey.”
Similar ground rules apply in the corporate world, where companies engage in endless duels for market supremacy.
Not surprisingly, organizations emulating the cheetah’s resiliency, speed, and agility have adopted the feline as their official mascot (the most famous being Frito-Lay with its Cheetos brand corn puffs).
Spinal technology firm NuVasive Inc. has been using the cheetah for nearly two decades to symbolize its approach to innovation, competition, and growth. Last year, the company launched a corporate cultural mindset called The Cheetah Way that aims to align its purpose, values, actions for success, and strategic priorities.
“The Cheetah Way really represents a holistic alignment to our organization. It includes starting first and foremost with our purpose,” CEO J. Christopher Barry said. “It also then includes our key values that we need to show up and exhibit every day. It defines the competencies that are required and ultimately, that then dictates and supports our strategy. The Cheetah Way is foundational to our next phase of growth...”
NuVasive kicked off that next growth phase last year through a steady stream of new products, partnerships, and M&A. The resulting flow raised total sales 8.4% to $1.13 billion and gross profit 12% to $816.7 million.
The company posted gains in its two product line offerings, with spinal hardware (implants and fixation devices) expanding 9% to $856.5 million and surgical support (surgical access instruments, intraoperative neuromonitoring systems) climbing 5.7% to $282.4 million. NuVasive attributed its product line sales gains to recovering elective surgery volume.
“2021 was a foundational year for NuVasive,” Barry told shareholders in the company’s latest annual report. “With a focus on near- and long-term growth, we continue to make progress on our strategy to grow our international business, deliver differentiated innovation in enabling technology, extend our position in less-invasive surgery, and take share in sub-segments where we historically had under-represented market share.”
Taking market share certainly was the motivating factor behind NuVasive’s $150 million acquisition of Simplify Medical last February (2021). The deal augmented NuVasive’s cervical spine lineup by adding a cervical disc designed for MRI compatibility, physiologic motion, and anatomical height-matching.
The Simplify Cervical Artificial Disc for cervical total disc replacement (cTDR) won U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) premarket approval in late 2020. A premarket approval submission for a two-level Investigational Device Exemption followed shortly thereafter.
Simplify Medical’s cervical disc consists of PEEK on ceramic materials for better visualization (via post-operative MRI). Its design fosters a unique articulation that allows a variable center of rotation for each treated level and closely mimics the motion dynamics of a natural spine segment, according to NuVasive. The anatomically designed disc measures between 4mm and 6mm; the smallest size (4mm) reportedly boasts the lowest disc height on the market.
The Simplify Disc is now part of NuVasive’s C360 portfolio, which the firm introduced last December.
“The acquisition of Simplify Medical advances our long-term growth strategy by both expanding, and further distinguishing, our portfolio with industry-leading innovation,” Barry said in announcing the deal.
“Combining the Simplify Disc with NuVasive’s C360 portfolio will enable us to provide surgeons with world-class cervical technology, regardless of their preferred procedural approach. We are excited about the opportunities this acquisition creates as we work to optimize the surgeon experience, advance the standard of care, and create value for shareholders.”
NuVasive indulged all three groups last year in different yet complementary ways. It optimized the surgeon experience by expanding professional training in the United States. In September, NuVasive opened an East Coast Experience Center in Englewood, N.J., supplementing the company’s flagship facility at its San Diego headquarters. The Englewood center features enhanced private R&D labs with video technology to support remote and in-person learning; educational training rooms with advanced cameras and streaming capabilities for digital instruction; a technology rotunda for live and virtual training simulations; a dedicated Pulse platform demonstration site; and lab space for training on the X360, XLIF, MAS TLIF, C360, and other procedural solutions.
A month after the new Experience Center opening, NuVasive released a virtual reality (VR) training module for the X360 system. Developed in collaboration with PrecisionOS, the module integrates the company’s lateral approach to single-position spine surgery: the XLIF, XALIF, and XFixation. The module provides a digital simulation of the X360 procedural workflow, helping “further the adoption of less invasive surgical procedures,” NuVasive chief commercial officer Massimo Calafiore noted in a news release publicizing the VR training module.
“The integration of VR learning with our CPD [Clinical Professional Development] and sales training programs,” he said, “enhance how we train our surgeon partners and sales teams as we work together to transform surgery, advance care, and change patient lives.”
NuVasive pursued the latter two ambitions via enhancements to its product portfolio, beginning with last April’s FDA approval of the Simplify Cervical Artificial Disc for two-level cTDR. The agency reputedly based its decision on a two-level IDE study that found the Simplify Disc’s overall success rate was 10% higher than anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Research also has shown the Simplify device has the highest overall clinical success rate compared to any other approved cervical disc at both one- and two-levels.
The company followed up the Simplify Disc approval with summertime authorizations for its Pulse surgical platform in Europe and the United States. Pulse is an integrated multiple technologies platform, designed to enhance the safety, efficacy, and procedural reproducibility of spinal procedures. The solution fosters easy access to multiple technologies from a compact footprint and addresses some of the most common surgical challenges. According to NuVasive, Pulse is designed to integrate radiation reduction, imaging enhancement, rod bending, navigation, intraoperative neuromonitoring, and spinal alignment tools into one platform. It includes enhanced integration with Siemens Healthineers’ 3D mobile C-arm, the Cios Spin.
The road from approval to adoption was relatively short, as the Pulse platform’s first clinical use took place in late September. Surgeons in Ohio used the tool in an XLIF procedure with minimally invasive fixation and nerve root decompression; the doctors involved in the procedure said Pulse complemented the way OR staff operated and allowed clinicians to seamlessly transition between XLIF and posterior fixation.
Nuvasive’s two product launches occurred two months apart. In July 2021, the company introduced its 3D-printed porous titanium implant, Modulus ALIF, for anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) procedures. The low-profile device particularly is designed for supine and lateral ALIF (XALIF) procedures, and is made in various sizes and lordotic options to accommodate different patient anatomy.
Modulus ALIF features a proprietary design for enhanced osseointegration, biomechanical, and imaging properties. The porous surface architecture is engineered to participate in fusion and promote new bone on-growth and in-growth. The design also allows for enhanced visualization compared to solid titanium implants, according to the company.
The Modulus ALIF’s locking mechanism provides definitive tactile and visual confirmation, enabling confidence in a surgeon’s screw placement in the implant.
NuVasive’s Cohere TLIF-O implant debuted in mid-October as part of the firm’s Advanced Materials Science (AMS) portfolio. The product is a porous polyetheretherketone (PEEK) implant used for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion procedures. Like its fellow AMS solutions, Cohere TLIF-O is designed with lordosis in the oblique plane and porous surface technology, a composition that allows clear radiographic imaging with different modalities.
Similar to the Modulus ALIF implant, the Cohere TLIF-O is manufactured in various implant sizes to fit different patient anatomies. Its design adheres to the company’s AMS principles of surface, structure, and imaging, featuring proprietary porous surface technology that generates stronger integration through bony in-growth and on-growth compared with smooth PEEK, which aids in fusion and overall clinical outcomes.
“Porous PEEK combines the stiffness and radiolucency of PEEK with the enhanced osseointegration of the porous technology—benefits not possible with prior devices,” Frank Phillips, M.D., professor of orthopedic surgery and director of the Division of Spine Surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said upon the Cohere TLIF-O’s release. “The enhanced clinical outcomes possible with Cohere TLIF-O and the surface technology options for posterior spine surgery now available are helping advance the standard of patient care.”
$1.13 Billion
Prior Fiscal: $1.05 Billion
Percentage Change: +8.4%
R&D Expenditure: $92.6 Million
Best FY21 Quarter: Q4 $302M
Latest Quarter: Q1 $290.7M
No. of Employees: 2,900
Global Headquarters: San Diego, Calif.
KEY EXECUTIVES:
Chris Barry, CEO
Dale Wolf, SVP, Global Operations
Matt Harbaugh, Exec. VP and CFO
Ryan Donahoe, SVP and Chief Technology Officer
Kyle Malone, VP, Scientific Affairs
Massimo Calafiore, Exec. VP and Chief Commercial Officer
Sean Freeman, SVP, Strategy and Corporate Development
Aviva McPherron, SVP, Information Technology
Cheetahs are naturally built for speed.
Their slender, lightweight body, oversized heart, small head, and long legs enable the big cats to accelerate faster than most sports cars (0-60 mph in three seconds) and execute mid-air turns while running. The animal’s flexible spine curves with each stride, acting as a spring for its hind legs, while its pivoting hip and unattached shoulder joints provide the necessary rotation to induce remarkable sprinting prowess (strides up to 25 feet) and speed (50-80 mph).
The cheetah’s claws and tail are vital accelerants as well. They gain incredible ground traction from their blunt, semi-retractable claws, and maneuverability from their tail.
Speed, however, is not the cheetah’s only defining quality—the felines also possess prey-specific hunting tactics. Belfast researchers, for example, found that cheetahs temper their hunting speeds to match and outmaneuver their prey’s various escape strategies. The animals intentionally slow their stride to make sharp turns in concert with their intended victims; the result, scientists noted, is a “deadly tango between the hunter and the hunted, with one mirroring the escape tactics of the other.”
“...we now know that rather than a simple maximum speed chase, cheetahs first accelerate towards their quarry before slowing down to mirror prey-specific escaping tactics,” explained Dr. Michael Scantlebury, senior lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast School of Biological Sciences. “We suggest that cheetahs modulate their hunting speed to enable rapid turns in a predator-prey arms race, where pace is pitted against agility. Basically, cheetahs have clear different chase strategies depending on prey species...our previous concept of cheetah hunts being simple high-speed, straight-line dashes to catch prey is clearly wrong. They engage in a complex duel of speed, acceleration, braking, and rapid turns with ground rules that vary from prey to prey.”
Similar ground rules apply in the corporate world, where companies engage in endless duels for market supremacy.
Not surprisingly, organizations emulating the cheetah’s resiliency, speed, and agility have adopted the feline as their official mascot (the most famous being Frito-Lay with its Cheetos brand corn puffs).
Spinal technology firm NuVasive Inc. has been using the cheetah for nearly two decades to symbolize its approach to innovation, competition, and growth. Last year, the company launched a corporate cultural mindset called The Cheetah Way that aims to align its purpose, values, actions for success, and strategic priorities.
“The Cheetah Way really represents a holistic alignment to our organization. It includes starting first and foremost with our purpose,” CEO J. Christopher Barry said. “It also then includes our key values that we need to show up and exhibit every day. It defines the competencies that are required and ultimately, that then dictates and supports our strategy. The Cheetah Way is foundational to our next phase of growth...”
NuVasive kicked off that next growth phase last year through a steady stream of new products, partnerships, and M&A. The resulting flow raised total sales 8.4% to $1.13 billion and gross profit 12% to $816.7 million.
The company posted gains in its two product line offerings, with spinal hardware (implants and fixation devices) expanding 9% to $856.5 million and surgical support (surgical access instruments, intraoperative neuromonitoring systems) climbing 5.7% to $282.4 million. NuVasive attributed its product line sales gains to recovering elective surgery volume.
“2021 was a foundational year for NuVasive,” Barry told shareholders in the company’s latest annual report. “With a focus on near- and long-term growth, we continue to make progress on our strategy to grow our international business, deliver differentiated innovation in enabling technology, extend our position in less-invasive surgery, and take share in sub-segments where we historically had under-represented market share.”
Taking market share certainly was the motivating factor behind NuVasive’s $150 million acquisition of Simplify Medical last February (2021). The deal augmented NuVasive’s cervical spine lineup by adding a cervical disc designed for MRI compatibility, physiologic motion, and anatomical height-matching.
The Simplify Cervical Artificial Disc for cervical total disc replacement (cTDR) won U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) premarket approval in late 2020. A premarket approval submission for a two-level Investigational Device Exemption followed shortly thereafter.
Simplify Medical’s cervical disc consists of PEEK on ceramic materials for better visualization (via post-operative MRI). Its design fosters a unique articulation that allows a variable center of rotation for each treated level and closely mimics the motion dynamics of a natural spine segment, according to NuVasive. The anatomically designed disc measures between 4mm and 6mm; the smallest size (4mm) reportedly boasts the lowest disc height on the market.
The Simplify Disc is now part of NuVasive’s C360 portfolio, which the firm introduced last December.
“The acquisition of Simplify Medical advances our long-term growth strategy by both expanding, and further distinguishing, our portfolio with industry-leading innovation,” Barry said in announcing the deal.
“Combining the Simplify Disc with NuVasive’s C360 portfolio will enable us to provide surgeons with world-class cervical technology, regardless of their preferred procedural approach. We are excited about the opportunities this acquisition creates as we work to optimize the surgeon experience, advance the standard of care, and create value for shareholders.”
NuVasive indulged all three groups last year in different yet complementary ways. It optimized the surgeon experience by expanding professional training in the United States. In September, NuVasive opened an East Coast Experience Center in Englewood, N.J., supplementing the company’s flagship facility at its San Diego headquarters. The Englewood center features enhanced private R&D labs with video technology to support remote and in-person learning; educational training rooms with advanced cameras and streaming capabilities for digital instruction; a technology rotunda for live and virtual training simulations; a dedicated Pulse platform demonstration site; and lab space for training on the X360, XLIF, MAS TLIF, C360, and other procedural solutions.
A month after the new Experience Center opening, NuVasive released a virtual reality (VR) training module for the X360 system. Developed in collaboration with PrecisionOS, the module integrates the company’s lateral approach to single-position spine surgery: the XLIF, XALIF, and XFixation. The module provides a digital simulation of the X360 procedural workflow, helping “further the adoption of less invasive surgical procedures,” NuVasive chief commercial officer Massimo Calafiore noted in a news release publicizing the VR training module.
“The integration of VR learning with our CPD [Clinical Professional Development] and sales training programs,” he said, “enhance how we train our surgeon partners and sales teams as we work together to transform surgery, advance care, and change patient lives.”
NuVasive pursued the latter two ambitions via enhancements to its product portfolio, beginning with last April’s FDA approval of the Simplify Cervical Artificial Disc for two-level cTDR. The agency reputedly based its decision on a two-level IDE study that found the Simplify Disc’s overall success rate was 10% higher than anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Research also has shown the Simplify device has the highest overall clinical success rate compared to any other approved cervical disc at both one- and two-levels.
The company followed up the Simplify Disc approval with summertime authorizations for its Pulse surgical platform in Europe and the United States. Pulse is an integrated multiple technologies platform, designed to enhance the safety, efficacy, and procedural reproducibility of spinal procedures. The solution fosters easy access to multiple technologies from a compact footprint and addresses some of the most common surgical challenges. According to NuVasive, Pulse is designed to integrate radiation reduction, imaging enhancement, rod bending, navigation, intraoperative neuromonitoring, and spinal alignment tools into one platform. It includes enhanced integration with Siemens Healthineers’ 3D mobile C-arm, the Cios Spin.
The road from approval to adoption was relatively short, as the Pulse platform’s first clinical use took place in late September. Surgeons in Ohio used the tool in an XLIF procedure with minimally invasive fixation and nerve root decompression; the doctors involved in the procedure said Pulse complemented the way OR staff operated and allowed clinicians to seamlessly transition between XLIF and posterior fixation.
Nuvasive’s two product launches occurred two months apart. In July 2021, the company introduced its 3D-printed porous titanium implant, Modulus ALIF, for anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) procedures. The low-profile device particularly is designed for supine and lateral ALIF (XALIF) procedures, and is made in various sizes and lordotic options to accommodate different patient anatomy.
Modulus ALIF features a proprietary design for enhanced osseointegration, biomechanical, and imaging properties. The porous surface architecture is engineered to participate in fusion and promote new bone on-growth and in-growth. The design also allows for enhanced visualization compared to solid titanium implants, according to the company.
The Modulus ALIF’s locking mechanism provides definitive tactile and visual confirmation, enabling confidence in a surgeon’s screw placement in the implant.
NuVasive’s Cohere TLIF-O implant debuted in mid-October as part of the firm’s Advanced Materials Science (AMS) portfolio. The product is a porous polyetheretherketone (PEEK) implant used for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion procedures. Like its fellow AMS solutions, Cohere TLIF-O is designed with lordosis in the oblique plane and porous surface technology, a composition that allows clear radiographic imaging with different modalities.
Similar to the Modulus ALIF implant, the Cohere TLIF-O is manufactured in various implant sizes to fit different patient anatomies. Its design adheres to the company’s AMS principles of surface, structure, and imaging, featuring proprietary porous surface technology that generates stronger integration through bony in-growth and on-growth compared with smooth PEEK, which aids in fusion and overall clinical outcomes.
“Porous PEEK combines the stiffness and radiolucency of PEEK with the enhanced osseointegration of the porous technology—benefits not possible with prior devices,” Frank Phillips, M.D., professor of orthopedic surgery and director of the Division of Spine Surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said upon the Cohere TLIF-O’s release. “The enhanced clinical outcomes possible with Cohere TLIF-O and the surface technology options for posterior spine surgery now available are helping advance the standard of patient care.”