The Activ-L lumbar artificial disc is back on the U.S. market under Highridge Medical, and its first cases under the company were completed in February, Scott Blumenthal, MD, told Becker’s.
Highridge announced plans in 2025 to introduce Activ-L after Aesculap, the company behind it, left the U.S. market, Dr. Blumenthal, of Plano-based Texas Back Institute, said.
Dr. Blumenthal and Matthew Gornet, MD, of St. Louis Spine & Orthopedic Surgery Center, performed the first Activ-L cases after a little over a year.
“We are excited to initiate the limited launch of the activ-L lumbar disc and expand access to this important treatment option for surgeons and their patients,” Highridge Medical CEO Rebecca Whitney said in a Feb. 26 news release. “The strong early adoption and positive feedback from leading surgeons validate our strategy to broaden our motion preservation portfolio beyond our market-leading Mobi-C cervical disc.”
Activ-L joins Centinel Spine’s prodisc L total disc in the U.S. lumbar disc market, and Dr. Blumenthal emphasized the importance of having options now.
“We’ve been without this product for over a year and it’s to the benefit of not just the surgeons, but more importantly, the patients, to have choices in terms of which lumbar artificial disc is better suited for which patient,” Dr. Blumenthal said. “They’re both very high quality products. The results of both are excellent, but sometimes you need to tailor a specific disc to a specific patient. Now we’ve got two on the market, which is a huge benefit to our patient population.”
Note: This article was updated Feb. 26 to include comments from Highridge Medical.
