Intrinsic rounds up $49M for implant to improve spinal surgery

Intrinsic Therapeutics raised $28 million in equity and $21 million in debt for its implant that addresses challenges in spinal surgery to remove a herniated disc.

New Enterprise Associates and Delos Capital led the equity round, while the debt facility comes from CRG. The funds will support the company’s FDA submission for its Barricaid Anular Closure Device, according to a statement.

Additionally, the funds will “allow us to continue our development efforts on reimbursement pathways for this compelling new technology with a sharp focus on demonstrating clear health economic value to surgeons, payers and hospital systems,” said CEO Cary Hagan.

A herniated disc describes a tear in the annulus, or outer ring, of a spinal disc that allows the softer nucleus to bulge out. It may cause pain, numbness and weakness and can be treated with surgery, but patients with larger tears in their discs are at higher risk of the problem reoccurring.

CE-marked in 2009, the Barricaid device is designed to treat larger tears by making a barrier to hold the remaining nucleus inside the disc. Made from a flexible mesh and several layers of counter-angulated fibers, the implant mimics the structure of the disc’s outer ring. It is attached to a nearby vertebra with a titanium anchor.

RELATED: Intrinsic raising $21M for implant to improve lumbar disc surgery

In December, Intrinsic filed a pre-market application based on a two-year, multicenter, prospective randomized trial involving 554 participants at risk of reherniation and needing a second surgery.

"Approximately 1 million discectomies are performed every year around the globe and 40% of these patients will leave the operating room after discectomy with a large hole remaining in the outer rim of the disc, the anulus.  By simply sealing these large defects, patient outcomes can be improved significantly,” P. Douglas Klassen, chief of neurosurgery at St. Bonifatius Hospital in Lingen, Germany, said in the statement.