San Jose startup SI-Bone just raised a decent capital round – $21 million – and appointed a coveted new CFO for its surgical device that treats lower back pain.
Lower back pain is a wildly common issue, which is creating a large market for effective therapies among the aging population. Some studies say that up to 30 percent of lower back pain cases are attributed to sacroiliac joint dysfunction – that is, when the sacrum and ilium bones fuse incorrectly.
The company’s iFuse Implant System is meant to be minimally invasive. It uses titanium implants coated with a porous titanium spray that works to allow the bones to fuse correctly.
This new round of growth capital financing from new investor Redline Capital Management, to expand sales of its surgical device that can help with sacroiliac joint fusion. Its rationale:
Procedure growth in the U.S. alone, as predicted by iData Research’s 2014 SI joint fusion market report, is expected to grow six-fold over the next three years from the more than 8,000 surgeries performed in 2014. Additional proceeds will be used to support entry into markets outside the U.S. and Europe, including countries in the Middle East, Asia and South America.
The company just appointed a new CFO as well: Laura Francis, the former CFO of the well-funded Bay Area IVF testmaker Auxogyn.
“I could not be more excited to welcome Laura to the SI-Bone team. She has extensive corporate finance experience in both large and small, public and private, companies,” Jeffrey Dunn, president and CEO of SI-Bone, said in a statement. “This, coupled with her experience with acquisition transactions in global markets and managing a successful public offering, will help us achieve our growth goals in the coming years.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The company has had 510(k) clearance since 2008, and a CE market for European commercialization since 2010. It has a decent CMS reimbursement profile; you can see details here.
