Spinal Tech

Here are 14 executive moves from spine device companies in 2011.

Synthes, a Swiss spine device company currently in the middle of being acquired by Johnson & Johnson, recently filed suit against three former sales representatives and Stryker for breaching company loyalty, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer news report.

Symmetry Medical, a Warsaw, Ind.-based orthopedic device company, recently closed on its acquisition of the surgical implants business Codman & Shurtleff, according to a Symmetry news release.

Allen Schlein, MD, a Connecticut-based orthopedic surgeon, was recently awarded more than $2 million from Orthopedic Systems for lost royalties on a device for shoulder surgery, according to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Medical and legal bills associated with metal-on-metal hip implants are taking a financial toll on the healthcare system, according to a New York Times report.

Minnesota medical device company KSpine raised $2.5 million that will fund clinical trials for the company's spinal implant to treat scoliosis, according to a Medcity News report.

A U.S. District Judge in Oregon threw out an $85 million verdict favoring Smith & Nephew in a patent infringement case with Arthrex over surgical anchors used in shoulder surgery, according to a Bloomberg report.

A team of orthopedic surgeons and engineers, including Joshua Jacobs, MD, of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush in Chicago, recently made a discovery about the structure of metal-on-metal hip implants, according to an MOR news release.

RoG Sports Medicine, an Orland Park, Ill.-based orthopedic implant company, recently received FDA clearance for its RoG Suture Anchor made of Zeniva polyetheretherketone, according to a Solvay Advanced Polymers news release.

Regenerative medicine company IntelliCell BioSciences recently appointed James R. Andrew, MD, and Joshua Hackel, MD, both of Andrews Institute of Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze, Fla., to its medical advisory board, according to a company news release.