Vertos hauls in $23M for spinal device

Vertos Medical raised $23 million to market its spinal surgery kit.--Courtesy of Vertos Medical

California's Vertos Medical has closed $23 million in financing, cash the company will use to expand the market for its pain-reducing spinal surgery device.

Pitango Venture Capital led the round, pitching in to help Vertos commercialize Mild, a surgery kit designed to help lumbar spinal stenosis patients stand longer and walk farther without pain, the company said. The latest fundraising follows Vertos' $15.5 million round in 2009.

The Mild procedure involves a small incision with no implants, sutures or hospitalization needed, Vertos said, and the device has charted an 81% response rate through 11 clinical studies. Mild won FDA clearance in 2008 and has treated more than 15,000 patients since, and now, with $23 million at its disposal, Vertos can expand its market share and launch the kit in Europe, CEO James Corbett said.

"We have an extraordinary opportunity to address a frequent and often debilitating condition with a low-cost, efficacious outpatient procedure," Corbett said in a statement. "We intend to build on current momentum and continue our efforts to provide Mild as a new treatment option for LSS patients and establish it as a standard of care."

Nearly 8% of the U.S. population suffers from lumbar spinal stenosis, Vertos said, with roughly 1.2 million Americans diagnosed each year. Patients are generally treated with physical therapy or open back surgery, depending on severity, and Vertos figures Mild can keep growing by providing a solution more effective than the former and less invasive than the latter.

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