Paul Leake is the co-founder and managing director of VerteCore Technologies, a medical device company that develops mobile decompression devices for the orthopedic market.
Question: Why did you start VerteCore Technologies?
Paul Leake: About 15 years ago, I was a specialist in the U.S. Army when I suffered a training accident at Fort Rucker in Dale County, Ala. The physicians there gave me two choices: undergo spine surgery or live in pain. I lived with the pain for about 10 years.
'Necessity is the mother of invention,' as the saying goes, and I was looking for alternatives to opioids for pain management. Back pain is also a leading cause of lost worker productivity in all industrialized nations. So, we formed VerteCore Technologies and invented the VerteCore Lift, a mobile spine decompression device for back pain relief. It's a Class 1, FDA-cleared medical device that has already helped hundreds of people regain their lives
Q: How can surgeons incorporate the VerteCore Lift into their practice?
PL: Surgeons can use the VerteCore Lift to treat compression issues conservatively before opting for the surgical route. The device facilitates decompression from L5 up to T5.
The VerteCore Lift doesn't take up much space — it can be worn over or under normal clothing — and patients can go about their day while receiving spinal decompression therapy. While it's not a replacement for surgery, it can mitigate pain without opioids and possibly prevent the need for surgical intervention.
Within the medical technology space over the last decade — particularly in spine tech — most advances have occurred within the surgical theater. But patients are becoming aware that surgery should be the last option in many cases, in part due to the rise of the opioid epidemic and a growing awareness of opioid dependence.
We believe everyone in healthcare should take a patient-centered approach, and we have a value proposition. Since we're moving to performance-based healthcare initiatives, we want to help surgeons ensure treatment is as effective as possible.
Q: What are VerteCore's next steps?
PL: We plan to meet with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs because we see tremendous value in getting it into the military healthcare system. VerteCore Technologies was also selected to participate in the TMCx 2018 Medical Device Accelerator Program at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, which allows us to network and build relationships across 61 institutions.