With preliminary first-quarter results showing a major boost in its revenues, Alphatec Holdings—the surgical device maker commonly known as ATEC Spine—has money to burn.
First up on its shopping spree: The acquisition of a navigation system for robotic surgeries. The platform was originally developed by Fusion Robotics, another devicemaker that in 2021 combined with Integrity Implants to form Accelus.
The REMI system, named for its robotic-enabled, minimally invasive approach, uses 2D and 3D imaging scans of patients to help spine surgeons guide instruments and implants into the correct places during a procedure.
ATEC has put down $55 million to acquire all assets related to the robotic navigation platform, according to a company announcement this week. The REMI system will join Alphatec’s other technologies in providing surgeons with more guidance throughout spine procedures.
“ATEC’s intention is to further clinical distinction by integrating actionable information into spine’s procedural workflow,” CEO Pat Miles said in the announcement. “We are excited to add the Fusion Robotics platform’s navigation and robotic precision capabilities to ATEC’s intra-operative informational ecosystem and advance our commitment to control clinical variables in the operating room.”
Alphatec announced the acquisition alongside a peek at its upcoming first-quarter earnings report, which is scheduled to be finalized in early May.
According to the preliminary results, ATEC is expecting to rake in between $108 million and $109.5 million for the period. That would represent growth of just over 52% at the low end—and more than 54% if revenues do reach the higher estimate—over the $71 million that the company brought in during the same three months last year.
That sizable revenue growth inspired ATEC to bump up its forecasts for the year. Whereas it opened 2023 with the prediction that it would take in a total of about $438 million, the devicemaker is now eyeing revenues of $450 million for the year—an increase of more than 28% compared to last year’s $351 million total.
The bulk of those quarterly revenues came from ATEC’s surgical devices, but about $15 million can be attributed to its EOS platform, an imaging system that simultaneously captures head-to-toe scans of both the front and back of a patient’s body while they stand or sit in the corner of the L-shaped machine; surgeons can then use those images to plan out an orthopedic procedure.
The EOS platform was the subject of ATEC’s last major acquisition. The company offered up a $122 million combination of cash and equity in late 2020 to purchase EOS Imaging, and the deal was finalized by mid-2021.
The acquisition was a long time coming: Earlier in 2020, ATEC had backed out of a previous bid to buy the French devicemaker under the same financial terms, after being spooked by the “material adverse effect” of the then-burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic.