sibn-20241231
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024
OR
Commission File Number 001-38701
SI-BONE, Inc.
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)
471 El Camino Real, Suite 101, Santa Clara, California95050
(Address of principal executive offices including zip code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (408) 207-0700
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share SIBN The Nasdaq Global Market
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yesx No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐Nox
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yesx No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yesx No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:
Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☒ Non-accelerated filer ☐
Smaller reporting company ☐ Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b‐2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No x
The aggregate market value of the shares of common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2024, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $0.5 billion, calculated based on the closing price of the registrant’s common stock as reported by the Nasdaq Global Market. Shares of common stock held by each officer and director, and each entity affiliated with a director, have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not a conclusive determination for other purposes.
The number of shares of Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of February 20, 2025 was 42,453,116 shares.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the Registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement relating to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the Registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Report.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PART I
Item 1 Business 5
Item 1A Risk Factors 24
Item 1B Unresolved Staff Comments 62
Item 1C Cybersecurity 63
Item 2 Properties 64
Item 3 Legal Proceedings 64
Item 4 Mine Safety Disclosures 64
PART II
Item 6 [Reserved] 65
Item 7A Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 77
Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 78
Item 9A Controls and Procedures 106
Item 9B Other Information 107
Item 9C Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 107
PART III
Item 10 Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 107
Item 11 Executive Compensation 108
Item 14 Principal Accountant Fees and Services 108
PART IV
Item 15 Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules 109
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In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, “we,” “our,” “us,” “SI-BONE,” and “the Company” refer to SI-BONE, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. The SI-BONE logo and other trade names, trademarks or service marks of SI-BONE are the property of SI-BONE, Inc. This report contains references to our trademarks and to trademarks belonging to other entities. Trade names, trademarks and service marks of other companies appearing in this report are the property of their respective holders. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.
RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Below is a summary of material factors that make an investment in our securities speculative or risky. Importantly, this summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, as well as other risks that we face, can be found under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors” below.
•We have incurred significant operating losses since inception, we may continue to incur operating losses in the future, and we may not be able to achieve or sustain future profitability;
•We may not be able to convince physicians that our products are attractive alternatives to our competitors’ products and that our procedures are attractive alternatives to existing surgical and non-surgical treatments for their respective indications;
•If hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers are unable to obtain and maintain adequate or any coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors for procedures performed using our products, further adoption of our products may be delayed, and it is unlikely that they will gain further acceptance, and the prices paid for our implants may decline;
•Uncertainty in the coverage and reimbursement environment may decrease demand for our products and adversely affect our business;
•Pricing pressure from our competitors, healthcare provider consolidation, the presence of physician-owned distributorships, and payor consolidation may impact our ability to sell our product at prices necessary to support our current business strategies;
•Practice trends, market dynamics, and other factors, have caused, and may continue to cause, procedures to shift from the hospital environment to ambulatory surgical centers ("ASCs") or office-based labs ("OBLs") where pressure on the prices of our products is generally more acute;
•We have historically been highly dependent on revenue from the sale of a single family of products focused on procedures, the goal of which is to stabilize and fuse the sacroiliac joint. Continued reliance on a single family of products and single family of procedures could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.;
•We operate in a very competitive business environment and if we are unable to compete successfully against our existing or potential competitors, our sales and operating results may be adversely affected;
•We are dependent on a limited number of third-party suppliers, some of them single-source and some of them in single locations, for most of our products and components, and the loss of any of these suppliers, or their inability to provide us with an adequate supply of materials in a timely and cost-effective manner, could materially adversely affect our business;
•Prolonged inflation and supply chain disruptions could result in delayed product launches, lost revenue, higher costs and decreased profit margins;
•Disruptions in the supply of the materials and components used in manufacturing our products or the sterilization of our products by third-party suppliers could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations;
•Physicians and payors may not find the clinical evidence supporting our more recent products to be compelling, which could limit our sales and revenue, and on-going and future research may prove our products to be less safe and effective than currently thought;
•If clinical experience with our iFuse Bedrock technique or our iFuse Bedrock Granite, iFuse TORQ, or iFuse INTRA products do not result in positive outcomes for patients, or if clinical trials involving the use of iFuse Bedrock, iFuse Bedrock Granite, iFuse INTRA and/or iFuse TORQ fail to show meaningful patient benefit, sales of our iFuse, iFuse-3D, iFuse TORQ and/or iFuse Bedrock Granite implants could be adversely impacted;
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•If we are unable to maintain our network of direct sales representatives, third-party sales agents, and resellers, we may not be able to generate anticipated sales;
•Our business could suffer if we lose the services of key members of our senior management, key advisors or personnel;
•If use of our products results in adverse events, this may require them to be taken off the market, require them to include safety warnings or otherwise limit their sales;
•Various factors outside our direct control may adversely affect manufacturing, sterilization, and distribution of our products;
•We, our suppliers, and our third-party manufacturers are subject to extensive governmental regulation both in the United States. and abroad, and failure to comply with applicable requirements could cause our business to suffer;
•We and our sales representatives must comply with U.S. federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including those relating to healthcare provider kickbacks and false claims for reimbursement, and other applicable federal and state healthcare laws, as well as equivalent foreign laws, and failure to comply could negatively affect our business;
•We and the third parties with whom we work are subject to stringent and evolving U.S. and foreign laws, regulations, and rules, contractual obligations, industry standards, policies and other obligations related to data privacy and security. Our (and the third parties with whom we work) actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could lead to regulatory investigations or actions; litigation (including class claims) and mass arbitration demands; fines and penalties; disruptions of our business operations; reputational harm; loss of revenue or profits; loss of customers or sales; and other adverse business consequences; and
•If we or our licensors fail to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights or secure rights to patents of others, the value of our intellectual property rights would diminish and our ability to successfully commercialize our products may be impaired.
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10‐K contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described under the sections in this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the following:
•our expectation that a significant portion of our revenues will be derived from sales of the iFuse Implant System, or iFuse;
•our ability to develop and commercialize additional revenue opportunities, including new indications for use and new products;
•our ability to retain and grow our sales team based on the demand for our products;
•our ability to identify, train, and retain physicians to perform procedures using our products;
•our ability to obtain and maintain favorable coverage and reimbursement determinations from third-party payors;
•our estimates of our market opportunity;
•our expectations regarding the scope of protection from intellectual property rights covering our products;
•developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;
•timing of and results from clinical and other trials;
•marketing clearances and authorization from the FDA and regulators in other jurisdictions and CE Certificates of Conformity from Notified Bodies;
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•timing of regulatory filings and feedback;
•competition in the markets we serve;
•our expectations of the reliability and performance of our products;
•our expectations of the benefits to patients, providers, and payors of our products;
•factors impacting the supply chains we rely on, including the availability of raw materials and skilled labor serving our suppliers, and the cost of these factors of production which may in turn impact the prices we pay for our devices;
•our reliance on a limited number of suppliers, including sole source suppliers, which may impact the availability of instruments and materials;
•our ability to sustain or increase demand for our products;
•the impact of epidemics on our operations, financial results, liquidity, and capital resources, including the impact on our global supply chain, demand for and ability to obtain our products and procedures, and our ability to maintain a healthy workforce;
•our estimates regarding our costs and risks associated with our international operations and expansion;
•our expectations regarding our ability to retain and recruit key personnel;
•our ability to attract and retain employees, including those with specialized skills and experience;
•our expectations regarding acquisitions and strategic operations;
•our ability to access capital markets;
•our ability to fund our working capital requirements;
•our compliance with, and the cost of, federal, state, and foreign regulatory requirements;
•the factors that may impact our financial results; and
•anticipated trends and challenges in our business and the markets in which we operate.
Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about our business and the industry in which we operate, and management’s beliefs and assumptions are not guarantees of future performance or development and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control. As a result, any or all of our forward-looking statements in this report may turn out to be inaccurate. Furthermore, if the forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, those listed under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this report. These statements, like all statements in this report, speak only as of their date. We caution investors that our business and financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, even if new information becomes available in the future, except as may be required by law.
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PART I
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are a medical device company dedicated to solving musculoskeletal disorders of the sacropelvic anatomy. Leveraging our knowledge of pelvic anatomy and biomechanics, we have pioneered proprietary minimally invasive surgical implant systems to address sacroiliac joint dysfunction as well as address unmet clinical needs in pelvic fixation and management of pelvic fractures. Our products include a series of patented titanium implants and the instruments used to implant them, as well as implantable bone products. Since launching our first generation iFuse in 2009, we have launched multiple implant product lines, including iFuse-3D in 2017, iFuse TORQ in 2021, iFuse Bedrock Granite in 2022, and iFuse INTRA and iFuse TORQ TNT in 2024. In the United States, iFuse, iFuse-3D, iFuse TORQ and iFuse Bedrock Granite have clearances for applications in sacroiliac joint dysfunction, adult spinal deformity and pelvic trauma. iFuse TORQ TNT has clearances for applications in pelvic trauma and sacroiliac joint dysfunction.
We market our products primarily with a direct sales force as well as a number of third-party sales agents in the United States, and with a combination of a direct sales force, and sales agents and resellers in other countries. As of December 31, 2024, over 115,000 procedures have been performed using our products by over 4,300 physicians in the United States and 38 other countries since we introduced iFuse in 2009.
In May 2023, we received a total of $83.7 million of net proceeds from the offering of 3,775,000 shares of our common stock, and the exercise of the underwriter's option to purchase an additional 566,250 shares of our common stock, at a public offering price of $22.00 per share. Of these shares, 272,753 shares were offered by a selling stockholder, and we did not receive any proceeds from the sale by the selling stockholder.
Product and Applications
Our first-generation iFuse, a machined triangular titanium implant launched in 2009, has a triangular cross section that resists twisting or rotation of the implant. The triangular shape of this implant helps stabilize the joint, and the implant’s porous surface facilitates biologic fixation of the bone onto the implant, or bony on-growth and in-growth that results in fusion. The implant has at least three times the strength of a typical eight-millimeter cannulated surgical screw, and the large porous surface area of our implants allows for bony ingrowth. Our second generation iFuse product, the iFuse-3D implant, launched in 2017, is a patented titanium implant that combines the triangular cross-section of the first generation iFuse implant with a proprietary 3D-printed porous surface and fenestrated design.This design, with its open and porous structure, also allows the implant to self-harvest bone as it is impacted through the ilium. We hold patents on implants with cross-sections of many non-round shapes, including the triangular shape, as well as the fenestration configuration we use with our iFuse-3D implants. We also hold patents for the method of placing the implant across the sacroiliac joint, as well as other parts of the spine and pelvis.
In April 2019, we received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") to promote the use of our iFuse-3D implants for fusion of the sacroiliac joint in conjunction with multi-level spinal fusion procedures to provide further stabilization and immobilization of the sacroiliac joint, which we call the Bedrock technique. We CE marked and began marketing iFuse for this indication and surgical technique in the European Union ("EU") in December 2019. In March 2020, we received FDA 510(k) clearance for an expanded indication for our triangular titanium iFuse implants to support our trauma initiative
In late-2019, we introduced iFuse Bone, an implantable bone product manufactured from sterilized recovered cadaveric bone tissue, to meet the demand of some of our surgeon customers to use implantable bone products to support and augment the patient's own bone tissue in orthopedic procedures. In 2024, we expanded our platform of allograft solutions with the iFuse INTRA family of implants, which are allograft bone implants for physicians who believe that this kind of intra-articular implant can be important to obtaining stabilization and/or fusion.
In February 2021, we launched iFuse TORQ, a line of 3D-printed threaded implants designed for use in pelvic trauma, as well as applications in sacroiliac joint dysfunction and degeneration. Relative to competitive trauma products, iFuse TORQ is roughly four times as strong in bending and requires 10 times the rotational force, or torque, to insert due to its porosity and other design features. We believe that this rotational resistance gives physicians confidence in the strength of mechanical fixation that iFuse TORQ provides, and that the technological advancements incorporated into iFuse TORQ represent a significant improvement compared to conventional trauma screws. iFuse TORQ has a larger surface area for bone in-growth and was specifically designed to allow for osteointegration, or incorporation of the bone in the implant's porous surface and structure. In 2022, the FDA provided clearance for an expanded indication for iFuse TORQ to include acute, non-acute and non-traumatic fractures as well as for placement across the sacroiliac joint using our Bedrock technique.
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In May 2022, we launched our iFuse Bedrock Granite Implant System. The iFuse Bedrock Granite implant provides sacroiliac fusion and sacropelvic fixation as a foundational element for segmental spinal fusion. The iFuse Bedrock Granite implant has a machined titanium core surrounded by a fusion sleeve that is additively manufactured. The fusion sleeve offers greater surface area for both microporous and macroporous surface features as well as self-harvesting cutting flutes. The fusion sleeve provides numerous means for biological fixation (bony on-growth, in-growth and through-growth). The robust neck and the set screw design also provide more strength and reliability to the iFuse Bedrock Granite implant. Based on the implant's ability to drive fusion and fixation, iFuse Bedrock Granite is designated by the FDA as a breakthrough device. The Breakthrough Device Designation was based on the FDA's recognition of iFuse Bedrock Granite as a new technology that can provide substantial clinical improvement over already available therapies. This Breakthrough Designation enabled us to obtain New Technology Add-on Payment ("NTAP") and Transitional Pass-Through Payment ("TPT") awards, which provide for higher levels of reimbursement from the Medicare program to the healthcare facility in which a procedure is performed using this implant. In December 2022, we received FDA clearance for promotion of the compatibility of iFuse Bedrock Granite with a broad class of commercially available rods. In January 2024, we received FDA clearance for a smaller diameter (9.5mm) iFuse Bedrock Granite implant with both an expanded indication that covers pediatric patients and an expanded application that includes use in the S1 trajectory.
In August 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") issued a final decision for a NTAP of up to $9,828 for eligible cases using iFuse Bedrock Granite in the hospital inpatient setting. The NTAP became effective October 1, 2022 and will be effective for a period of up to three years and is exclusive to iFuse Bedrock Granite. In November 2024, CMS then issued a final decision for a TPT status for eligible cases using iFuse Bedrock Granite when performed in the hospital outpatient setting. The TPT for iFuse Bedrock Granite became effective January 1, 2025.
In August 2024, we received FDA clearance for our iFuse TORQ TNT Implant System. iFuse TORQ TNT includes a porous threaded implant with lengths capable of spanning the posterior pelvis, passing through the ipsilateral ilium, sacrum, and through the contralateral ilium. iFuse TORQ TNT was designated a breakthrough device by the FDA based on its potential to provide more effective treatment of pelvic fragility fractures than traditional machined cannulated screws, which are the current standard of care. iFuse TORQ TNT is designed to improve early fixation and reduce the rate of screw backout, which may allow for early patient weight-bearing and mobilization.
Market Opportunity
As a sacropelvic solutions company, our products have applications across sacroiliac joint dysfunction and degeneration, spinopelvic fixation, and pelvic fractures.We estimate that our total addressable market in the United States exceeds $3.0 billion.
Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction and Degeneration
Over 30 million American adults are estimated to have chronic lower back pain. Studies indicate that 15% to 30% of patients with chronic low back pain may have symptoms originating with the sacroiliac joint. Our experience in both clinical trials and commercial settings indicates that at least 30% of these patients may be candidates for surgical treatment with our implants. Based on our market experience and internal estimates, and the assumption that the average person suffering from sacroiliac joint dysfunction has been in pain for five years, we estimate that the potential annual market opportunity for sacroiliac joint fusion in the United States could be approximately 279,000 patients for a potential market in the United States of approximately $2.4 billion per year.
Sacroiliac joint patients may have experienced one or more events that have contributed to disruption and/or degeneration of the sacroiliac joint, such as pregnancy, falls, previous lumbar surgery, automobile accidents, and aging, which may cause degeneration of the cushioning in the joint much like other joints. Patients with sacroiliac joint dysfunction frequently experience significant pain simply from sitting, standing, or rolling over in bed. The pain can be exacerbated with activity - when a patient walks or runs. We believe that approximately 65% of people who suffer from sacroiliac pain are women. Although several non-surgical treatments exist for sacroiliac joint pain, including physical therapy, opiates and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, intra-articular injection of steroid medications and radio frequency ablation, these treatments did not provide long-term pain or disability relief in our randomized controlled clinical trials.
Adult Deformity and Degeneration
To strengthen the base of spinal constructs, spine surgeons have been using longer and larger diameter pedicle screws in iliac and sacro-alar iliac trajectories, in which these screws connecting to the spinal fusion construct are placed into the pelvis. Third party data has shown that the use of pedicle screws to anchor to the pelvis has delivered sub-optimal patient outcomes resulting in revision surgeries. Acute set screw failure of sacro-alar iliac screws has been reported in approximately 5% of cases. Screw loosening within the sacrum/ilium is another common failure, occurring in 4-27% of cases and screw fracture has been reported in up to 20% of cases. Building on our experience with the Bedrock technique which we introduced in 2019, we introduced iFuse Bedrock Granite, a novel,
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patent-protected device designed for the specific demands of the sacropelvic anatomy at the end of spinal fusion constructs. We believe there are over 30,000 surgeries involving fixation of five or more spinal segments that involve fixation to the pelvis and an additional 100,000 surgeries involving two to four level spinal segment fixations to the sacrum, which we estimate to be an approximately $1.0 billion aggregate annual market opportunity.
Pelvic Trauma
Current treatment options for pelvic fragility fractures are sub-optimal. Sacroplasty, in which bone cement is extruded into the sacrum to help fix the fracture, is associated with high rates of cement leakage and therefore lacks consistent coverage by payors. Traditional trauma screws do not integrate with the surrounding bone and therefore loosen in more than 20% of the cases in which they are used.As a result, most patients are prescribed bed-rest, involving significant capacity and financial burdens on the health care system, and a one-year mortality rate range of 14%-27%.With the introduction of iFuse TORQ in 2021 and iFuse TORQ TNT in 2024, we are specifically targeting the pelvic trauma market, which we estimate to be an approximately $350 million market opportunity.
Clinical Evidence
Our triangular iFuse implants are the only minimally invasive products for sacroiliac joint fusion commercially available in the United States that, to our knowledge, are supported by substantial high-quality published evidence of safety, clinical effectiveness, durability, and economic utility. The safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of our iFuse family of implants are supported by more than 160 publications and several prospective clinical studies, including four randomized trials, two large prospective multi-center trials and one long-term follow-up study. Additional long-term independent studies have reported follow-up data as far out as six years.
Table 1. Summary of SI-BONE sponsored trials.
iMIA iFuse EU SIJD MRCT 103 2 years Complete
INSITE iFuse USA SIJD MRCT 148 2 years Complete
SIFI iFuse USA SIJD PMSA 172 2 years Complete
LOIS iFuse USA SIJD PMSA 103 5 years Complete
SALLY iFuse-3D USA SIJD PMSA 51 5 years Complete
SILVIA iFuse-3D USA, EU & AUS ASD MRCT 220 2 years Complete; Publication Pending
PAULA iFuse Bedrock Granite USA ASD PMSA 250 2 years Enrolling
STACI iFuse TORQ USA SIJD PMSA 110 2 years Follow-up
*MRCT = multi-center randomized controlled trial; PMSA = prospective, multi-center single-arm
**SIJD = sacroiliac joint dysfunction; ASD = adult spine deformity; FFP = fragility fracture of the pelvis
Table 1 summarizes clinical trials sponsored by SI-BONE. Four studies of iFuse Implant System (INSITE, iMIA, SIFI and LOIS) have been completed. INSITE and iMIA were prospective multi-center, randomized controlled trials conducted in the US and Europe, respectively. In both trials, patients with chronic sacroiliac joint pain were assigned at random to either immediate sacroiliac joint fusion using iFuse implants or individually tailored non-surgical management. In both studies, subjects assigned to sacroiliac joint fusion reported large improvements in pain, disability related to pain and quality of life. In contrast, in subjects assigned to non-surgical management, only small, clinically unimportant improvements in these parameters were observed.
In INSITE (Investigation of Sacroiliac Fusion Treatment), more than 90% of subjects participating in the non-surgical group decided to cross over to sacroiliac joint fusion surgery, indicating that non-surgical treatment provided ineffective relief of pain and disability related to pain. At two years, patients undergoing sacroiliac joint fusion had sustained improvements in pain, disability and quality of life. Two-year results from INSITE were published in August 2016. Further, an embedded cost-effectiveness analysis within INSITE, published in December 2015, showed the procedure to be highly cost-effective for the treatment of chronic sacroiliac joint pain.
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In iMIA (iFuse Implant System Minimally Invasive Arthrodesis), similar large differences were observed between subjects undergoing sacroiliac joint fusion vs. those undergoing non-surgical management. Improvements in pain, disability and quality of life after sacroiliac joint fusion were sustained at two years. Two-year results were published in March 2019.
In SIFI (Sacroiliac Joint Fusion with iFuse Implant System), patients with chronic sacroiliac joint pain seen at 26 US centers underwent sacroiliac joint fusion using iFuse Implant System. Eligibility criteria were identical to those of INSITE and very similar to those of iMIA. Similar improvement in pain, disability and quality of life were observed throughout study follow-up. Two-year results were published in April 2016.
In INSITE, iMIA and SIFI, the rate of procedure-related adverse events was low.
In LOIS (Long-term Outcomes of INSITE and SIFI), subjects participating in INSITE and SIFI were enrolled in a long-term follow-up study. Five-year results, published in April 2018, showed sustained improvements in pain, disability and quality of life as well as a high satisfaction rate at five years. Moreover, independent radiographic analysis showed a high rate of bony apposition to implants on both the sacral and iliac sides (98%) as well as a high rate of sacroiliac joint fusion (88% bridging bone) at five years. There were no reported adverse events related to the study device or procedure at five years.
SALLY (Study of Bone Growth in the Sacroiliac Joint After Minimally Invasive Surgery with Titanium Implants) is a prospective, multi-center single-arm clinical study of the same patient population (i.e., sacroiliac joint dysfunction) who underwent sacroiliac joint fusion using iFuse-3D. The purpose of the study was to show that the 3D printed version of the device produces results similar to prior studies of iFuse. Two-year results, published in June 2021, and five-year results, published in September 2024, showed similar improvements in pain, disability and quality of life compared to prior studies of iFuse as well as CT evidence of earlier fusion of the sacroiliac joint. The study also showed marked reduction in opioid use and improvement in objective functional tests. Five year results were published in SPINE in 2024.
SAFFRON (Sacral Fracture Fusion/Fixation for Rapid Rehabilitation) is a prospective randomized controlled trial comparing pelvic fracture fixation and sacroiliac joint fusion using iFuse TORQ with non-surgical management in patients with debilitating pelvic fragility fractures. We stopped recruiting patients in mid-2024 and expect to publish the results in 2025. The results are supportive to iFuse TORQ in the surgical treatment of pelvic fragility fractures.
SILVIA (sacroiliac joint Stabilization in Long Fusion to the Pelvis: Randomized Controlled Trial) is a prospective randomized trial of iFuse-3D placement during multilevel spine fusion with fixation to the pelvis. The target patient population of this trial is patients undergoing multilevel spine fusion surgery primarily for degenerative scoliosis of the spine. All participants undergo pelvic fixation. At random, approximately 50% of participants are assigned to additional placement of iFuse-3D in the sacro-alar iliac trajectory using the Bedrock technique. The primary endpoint of the study is the incidence of sacroiliac joint pain and/or distal junctional failures. The study aims to show that placement of iFuse-3D in the Bedrock configuration reduces the rate of these outcomes. Early study results, which focused on device placement feasibility and 90-day safety events, demonstrate the feasibility and safety of pelvic fixation utilizing a sacral-alar-iliac screw combined with iFuse-3D in the bedrock configuration. Additionally, the study reveals that sacroiliac joint pain is common among patients undergoing surgery for adult spine deformity, with a baseline prevalence of 16%. Enrollment in this trial was completed in 2022, and follow-up was completed in late 2024. We expect to publish main results from the study (2-year follow-up) in 2025.
Ongoing studies are as follows:
STACI (iFuse TORQ for the treatment of Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction) is an ongoing prospective, multi-center, single-arm study of iFuse TORQ for patients with SI joint dysfunction when performed by interventional spine physicians. STACI enrolled 110 subjects between July 2023 and November 2024. The study’s eligibility criteria are similar to those of prior U.S. studies (INSITE, SIFI and SALLY). Like previous studies, STACI endpoints include improvement in pain, disability and quality of life. Early results showed no device-related adverse events and improvements in pain and disability are similar to those of prior studies of iFuse and iFuse-3D implants in similar patient population. We expect to publish follow-up results in 2025.
PAULA is an ongoing multi-center, single-arm study of iFuse Bedrock Granite in patients undergoing spinopelvic fixation for adult spinal deformity or degenerative spine conditions. This study has a prospective and retrospective arms, with 128 and 29 patients enrolled, respectively. The study is evaluating the performance of Granite in multiple construct configurations. To date, the failure rate has been extremely low with a single case reported of set screw dissociation. We expect to publish six-month results in late 2025.
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Other Published Clinical Studies
To date, several independent clinical studies have provided evidence to support the long-term safety and effectiveness of iFuse for sacroiliac joint fusion. These studies demonstrated pain reduction and/or ODI improvement that is statistically significant and clinically important and a safety file that was similar to that observed in prospective studies. One study showed marked reduction in opioid use after sacroiliac joint fusion compared to similar subjects who underwent non-surgical treatment, and in whom opioid use increased. An analysis of post-market surveillance data on the performance of iFuse Bedrock Granite was recently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Spine Surgery. Results show a low failure rate compared with conventional screws for pelvic fixation.
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Coverage and Reimbursement
Coverage and reimbursement for procedures using our implants vary by setting of care, payor type and region. Outside the United States, reimbursement levels vary significantly by country and by region within some countries.
In addition to coverage policies, third-party payors regularly update reimbursement amounts and sometimes revise the methodologies used to determine reimbursement amounts. This includes annual updates to payments to physicians, hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers for procedures requiring our products. To encourage innovation and to allow Medicare beneficiaries early access to new technologies, on October 1, 2022, CMS awarded the iFuse Bedrock Granite implant system a New Technology Add-on Payment (“NTAP”). NTAP provides incremental reimbursement to hospitals supporting eligible, inpatient procedures using iFuse Bedrock Granite technology, up to $9,828 in addition to the typical reimbursement they receive based on Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Groups (“MS-DRGs”). NTAP will expire on September 30, 2025. Effective January 1, 2025, hospital outpatient departments and ASCs are also eligible to receive Transitional Pass-Through (“TPT”) payment status for iFuse Bedrock Granite in outpatient settings, which allows the total facility-reported costs of iFuse Bedrock Granite to be “passed through” to the Medicare program, when performed as part of a separately reimbursed lumbar fusion procedure.
Substantially all U.S. payors reimburse for minimally invasive sacroiliac joint fusion when performed using a lateral transfixing device, and a significant number of U.S. payors have issued positive coverage policies exclusive to our patented design of triangular titanium implants for sacroiliac joint fusion because of the clinical evidence. We believe that the coverage and reimbursement for our lateral transfixing procedure under CPT code 27279 is generally adequate given the time and complexity of our procedures.
In addition to Current Procedural Terminology ("CPT") code 27279, which is typically used to code for the iFuse procedure, effective January 1, 2024, the American Medical Association ("AMA") adopted a separate Category 1 CPT code 27278 to describe minimally invasive sacroiliac fusion when performed using an intra-articular implant, placed directly in the joint generally from a posterior approach. This technique, developed more recently, is more commonly used by interventional spine physicians.
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Healthcare Professional Training and Education
Since our inception, we have made considerable investments in teaching healthcare professionals to accurately diagnose sacroiliac joint disorders. Our physician training programs are for orthopedic spine surgeons, neurosurgeons, general orthopedic surgeons, interventional spine specialists and orthopedic trauma surgeons. Our medical affairs team works with leading physician and spine surgeons to educate other orthopedic and neurosurgeons on the differential diagnosis of sacroiliac joint disorders and the use of our implants. Our non-surgeon physician training programs focus on interventionalists, who are generally trained as anesthesiologists, interventional radiologists, or physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists. We also work closely with medical specialty societies to raise the awareness of and teach the appropriate diagnosis of sacroiliac joint dysfunction and the associated treatment options.
We conduct many educational programs for the broader medical community including primary care physicians, pain management physicians and other healthcare practitioners that may manage a sacroiliac joint patient non-surgically, such as physical therapists and chiropractors. Our educational programs focus on helping healthcare professionals learn about the sacroiliac joint as a component of lower back pain, proper diagnosis of sacroiliac joint dysfunction, non-surgical treatment options and surgical treatment with our implants. In addition to these general educational programs, we provide continuing education programs focused on sacroiliac joint diagnosis and treatment. We can provide these programs worldwide including in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In July 2020, we began using the SI-BONE SImulator; an innovative, fully portable surgery training simulator. The computer-based surgery training simulator provides quality haptics, or the realistic feel during the physician’s use of the implants and instruments, and the training is performed without need for an operating room or a fluoroscope. The simulator is used to train physicians to perform sacroiliac joint injections, sacroiliac joint fusions from multiple trajectories, as well as the iFuse Bedrock procedure using iFuse-3D and iFuse TORQ, procedures using iFuse Bedrock Granite, procedures using INTRA and procedures using iFuse TORQ TNT. We currently have 25 simulators used worldwide. We utilize the simulators and our existing programs to train new physicians, increase the knowledge and proficiency of existing iFuse physicians and re-engage inactive physicians.
We are targeting over 12,000 U.S. physicians including over 8,000 orthopedic and neurological surgeons and approximately 4,500 interventional spine physicians, to perform our procedures. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, in the United States, more than 3,200 physicians and 2,700 physicians, respectively, have been trained on our solutions and have treated at least one patient using our solutions. Outside the United States, as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, more than 1,100 physicians and 900 physicians, respectively, have been trained on iFuse and have treated at least one patient using iFuse.
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Sales and Marketing
We market and sell our implants primarily through a direct sales force and third-party sales agents. Our target customer base includes over 12,000 physicians in the U.S. who perform advanced spinal procedures.
Our direct sales organization in the United States covered 16 sales regions as of December 31, 2024. In each region, a number of territory sales managers act as the primary customer contact. Our territory sales managers have extensive training and experience selling medical devices for spinal surgery and pain management procedures, generally focusing on emerging technologies and markets. For large and/or high volume territories, we also employ territory representatives who cover cases and support revenue growth activities. As of December 31, 2024, our U.S. sales force consisted of 87 territory sales managers and 71 clinical specialists directly employed by us, and 252 third-party sales agents. As of December 31, 2024, we had 20 employees working in our European operations across multiple countries. As of December 31, 2024, our international sales force consisted of 9 sales representatives directly employed by us and 31 third-party sales agents, which together had sales in 38 countries through December 31, 2024. We intend to continue to grow our specialized sales force to foster physician engagement and support revenue growth.
We believe it is essential to raise awareness among lower back pain sufferers that their symptoms may be the result of sacroiliac joint disorders and that minimally invasive surgical treatments are available. To raise patient awareness, we have implemented targeted marketing, education and direct outreach programs. We continually update our social media initiatives and post content to educate and engage patients who may be candidates for our procedures.
Research and Development
We remain focused on the development of products and techniques to help physicians improve the treatment of their patients and anticipate continuing to build products and pursue additional indications.Our development team, in consultation with physicians, has a pipeline of products in various stages to provide solutions that respond to the needs of our physician customers and their patients. We plan to seek regulatory clearances for additional indications as required. We anticipate that research and development expenses will continue to increase in the future.
Competition
We believe from market research data that we are an industry leader in solving musculoskeletal disorders of the sacropelvic anatomy with our proprietary minimally invasive surgical implant systems. Over the past several years, other companies have recognized the multi-billion dollar addressable market opportunity and have entered the minimally invasive sacroiliac joint fusion market. Some of our competitors are large, publicly traded companies that have wide product offerings for spine and orthopedic surgery, which allow them to bundle products to win large hospital group contracts. This can create a barrier to entry for us. Another advantage large companies have is integrated surgical navigation and robotics platforms. This allows them to create an ecosystem with their implant systems that can be difficult to penetrate. Other competitors have entered the market with allograft bone implants marketed as human tissue products and intended for sacroiliac stabilization and/or fusion. Many of these competitors are smaller private companies and target interventional pain and other physicians not trained as orthopedic and neurological surgeons.
We believe that our largest competitors currently are Globus Medical, Inc. and Medtronic plc. However, these competitors sell products which we believe lack the features, evidence and advantages of our implants.
Based on our commercial experience and market research, we believe our implants are currently used in the majority of minimally invasive surgical fusions and/or fixation of the sacroiliac joint in the United States. We believe we have the most comprehensive set of solutions which are supported by clinical evidence including randomized controlled studies that demonstrate the safety, clinical effectiveness, durability, and economic utility. We have received exclusive reimbursement coverage in the United States by certain payors based upon our differentiated product and quality of our evidence as well as NTAP and TPT given the breakthrough designation of certain devices. We believe that we have the largest dedicated direct salesforce focused on sacropelvic solutions competing in our segment. We believe these factors provide competitive advantages to us in the market. The following are the primary competitive factors on which companies compete in our industry:
•clinical data;
•product and clinical procedure effectiveness;
•ease of surgical technique and use of associated instruments;
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•safety;
•published clinical outcomes and evidence;
•sales force effectiveness;
•product support and service, and customer service;
•comprehensive training, including disease, anatomy, diagnosis and treatment;
•product innovation and the speed of innovation;
•intellectual property;
•accountability and responsiveness to customers’ demands;
•scientific (biomechanics) data; and
•pricing and reimbursement.
Intellectual Property
We protect our intellectual property through our pending patent applications and issued patents. As of December 31, 2024, we had been issued 68 issued U.S. patents and had 40 pending U.S. patent applications, and we owned 20 issued foreign patents and had 24 pending foreign patent applications. We have focused the majority of our foreign patent efforts in China, Europe, and Japan. Our current U.S. patents on the design of our first generation iFuse implant, including its triangular shape, expire in December 2025. Our current U.S. patents on iFuse-3D, including the fenestrated design, expire in September 2035. Our current U.S. patents on the triangular cutting tool used to place our implants expire in February 2034, and our current U.S. patents protecting the design of our iFuse Bedrock Granite implants expire in February 2039. Our foreign patents will expire between August 2025 and September 2035.
As of December 31, 2024, we have 22 registered trademarks in the United States and have filed for three more. We have sought protection for at least 14 of these trademarks in 60 countries including the 27 European Union member countries.
We also rely upon trade secrets, know-how and continuing technological innovation, and may rely upon licensing opportunities in the future, to develop and maintain our competitive position. We may seek to protect our proprietary rights through a variety of methods, including confidentiality agreements and proprietary information agreements with suppliers, employees, consultants and others who may have access to proprietary information, under which they are bound to assign to us inventions made during the term of their agreements.
The term of individual patents depends on the legal term for patents in the countries in which they are granted. In most countries, including the United States, the patent term is generally 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date of a non-provisional patent application in the applicable country. There can be no assurance that patents will be issued from any of our pending applications or that, if patents are issued, they will be of sufficient scope or strength to provide meaningful protection for our technology. Notwithstanding the scope of the patent protection available to us, a competitor could develop treatment methods or devices that are not covered by our patents but that compete with our proprietary technology and products. Furthermore, numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and patent applications owned by third parties exist in the fields in which we are developing products. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be applications currently unknown to us, which may later result in issued patents that our existing or future products or proprietary technologies may be alleged and/or found to infringe.
There has been substantial litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights in the medical device industry. In the future, we may need to engage in litigation to enforce patents issued or licensed to us, to protect our trade secrets or know-how and brands, to defend against claims of infringement of the rights of others or to determine the scope and validity of the proprietary rights of others. Litigation could be costly and could divert our attention from other functions and responsibilities. Adverse determinations in litigation could reduce the barriers to entry that we have established for iFuse, or subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require us to seek licenses from third parties or prevent us from manufacturing, selling or using iFuse, any of which could severely harm our business.
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Regulation
Domestic Regulation of Our Products and Business
Our research, development and clinical programs, as well as our manufacturing and marketing operations, are subject to extensive regulation in the United States and other countries. Most notably, all of our products sold in the United States are subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) as implemented and enforced by the FDA. The processes for obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States and in foreign countries and jurisdictions, along with subsequent compliance with applicable statutes and regulations and other regulatory authorities, require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.
There are numerous FDA regulatory requirements governing the clearance or approval and marketing of our products. These include:
•product listing and establishment registration, which helps facilitate FDA inspections and other regulatory action;
•investigational device exemptions to conduct premarket clinical trials, which include extensive monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements in compliance with good clinical practices (“GCP”) and with institutional review board (“IRB”) oversight;
•Quality System Regulation (“QSR”) and Quality Management System Regulation ("QMSR"), which requires manufacturers, including third-party manufacturers, to follow stringent design, testing, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures during all aspects of the manufacturing process;
•labeling regulations and FDA prohibitions against the promotion of products for uncleared, unapproved or off-label use or indication;
•clearance of product modifications that could significantly affect safety or effectiveness or that would constitute a major change in intended use of one of our cleared devices;
•approval of product modifications that affect the safety or effectiveness of one of our approved devices;
•medical device reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers comply with FDA requirements to report if their device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury, or has malfunctioned in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction of the device or a similar device were to recur;
•post-approval restrictions or conditions, including post-approval study commitments;
•post-market surveillance regulations, which apply when necessary to protect the public health or to provide additional safety and effectiveness data for the device;
•the FDA’s recall authority, whereby it can ask, or under certain conditions order, device manufacturers to recall from the market a product that is in violation of governing laws and regulations;
•regulations pertaining to voluntary recalls; and
•notices of corrections or removals.
FDA Premarket Clearance and Approval Requirements
Unless an exemption applies, each medical device we wish to commercially distribute in the United States will require either premarket notification, or 510(k), clearance or approval of a pre-market approval (“PMA”) from the FDA. The FDA classifies medical devices into one of three classes. Devices deemed to pose lower risks are placed in either Class I or II, which typically requires the manufacturer to submit to the FDA a premarket notification requesting permission to commercially distribute the device. This process is generally known as 510(k) clearance. Some low risk devices are exempted from this requirement. Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risks, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, or devices deemed not substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device, are placed in Class III, requiring a PMA.
Class I devices are those for which safety and effectiveness can be assured by adherence to FDA’s “general controls” for medical devices, which include compliance with the applicable portions of the FDA’s QSR facility registration and product listing, reporting of adverse medical events, and appropriate, truthful and non-misleading labeling, advertising, and promotional materials. Some Class I devices also require premarket clearance by the FDA through the 510(k) premarket notification process described below.
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Class II devices are subject to FDA’s general controls, and any other “special controls” deemed necessary by FDA to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the device, such as performance standards, product-specific guidance documents, special labeling requirements, patient registries or post-market surveillance. Premarket review and clearance by the FDA for Class II devices is accomplished through the 510(k) premarket notification procedure, though certain Class II devices are exempt from this premarket review process. When a 510(k) is required, the manufacturer must submit to the FDA a premarket notification submission demonstrating that the device is “substantially equivalent” to a legally marketed device, which in some cases may require submission of clinical data. Unless a specific exemption applies, 510(k) premarket notification submissions are subject to user fees. If the FDA determines that the device, or its intended use, is not substantially equivalent to a legally marketed device, the FDA may place the device, or the particular use of the device, into Class III, and the device sponsor must then fulfill much more rigorous premarketing requirements.
Class III devices, consisting of devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, or devices deemed not substantially equivalent to a predicate device. The safety and effectiveness of Class III devices cannot be assured solely by general or special controls. Submission and FDA approval of a PMA application is required before marketing of a Class III device can proceed.
510(k) Clearance
To obtain 510(k) clearance for a medical device, an applicant must submit to the FDA a premarket notification submission demonstrating that the proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a legally marketed device, known as a “predicate device.” A legally marketed predicate device may include a device that was legally marketed prior to May 28, 1976 for which a PMA is not required (known as a “pre-amendments device” based on the date of enactment of the Medical Device Amendments of 1976), a device that has been reclassified from Class III to Class II or Class I, or a device that was found substantially equivalent through the 510(k) process. A device is substantially equivalent if, with respect to the predicate device, it has the same intended use and has either (i) the same technological characteristics, or (ii) different technological characteristics, but the information provided in the 510(k) submission demonstrates that the device does not raise new questions of safety and effectiveness and is at least as safe and effective as the predicate device. A showing of substantial equivalence sometimes, but not always, requires clinical data.
After a device receives 510(k) marketing clearance, any modification that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change or modification in its intended use, will require a new 510(k) marketing clearance or, if the modification changes the classification of the product to Class III, PMA approval. The determination as to whether or not a modification could significantly affect the device’s safety or effectiveness is initially left to the manufacturer using available FDA guidance. Many minor modifications today are accomplished by a “letter to file” in which the manufacturer documents the rationale for the change and why a new 510(k) is not required. However, the FDA may review such letters to file to evaluate the regulatory status of the modified product at any time and may require the manufacturer to cease marketing and recall the modified device until 510(k) clearance is obtained. The manufacturer may also be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties.
Regulation of Human Cell and Tissue Based Products
Our iFuse INTRA products are derived from human tissue (demineralized bone tissue). The FDA has specific regulations governing human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products ("HCT/Ps"). HCT/Ps regulated by the FDA under the authority of section 361 of the Public Health Service Act must be not more than minimally manipulated and be for homologous use. They are subject to requirements relating to registering facilities and listing products with the FDA, screening and testing for tissue donor eligibility, Good Tissue Practice when processing, storing, labeling and distributing HCT/Ps, including required labeling information, stringent record keeping and adverse event reporting. Our bone tissue products are regulated as 361 HCT/Ps.
The American Association of Tissue Banks ("AATB") has issued operating standards for tissue banking. Accreditation is voluntary, but compliance with these standards is a requirement to become an AATB-accredited tissue establishment. In addition, some states have their own tissue banking regulations. As of December 31, 2024, we are licensed or have permits for tissue banking in California and Maryland.
Procurement of certain human organs and tissue for transplantation is subject to the restrictions of the National Organ Transplant Act ("NOTA"), which prohibits the transfer of certain human organs, including bone tissue for valuable consideration, but
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permits reasonable payments associated with removal, transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control and storage.
Pervasive and Continuing Regulation
After a device is placed on the market, numerous regulatory requirements continue to apply.
We have registered our facility with the FDA as a medical device manufacturer. The FDA has broad post-market and regulatory enforcement powers. We are subject to announced and unannounced inspections by the FDA to determine our compliance with the QSR and other regulations, and these inspections may include the manufacturing facilities of some of our subcontractors. Failure by us or by our suppliers to comply with applicable regulatory requirements can result in enforcement action by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, which may result in sanctions including, but not limited to:
•untitled letters, warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees, and civil penalties;
•unanticipated expenditures to address or defend such actions;
•customer notifications for repair, replacement, refunds;
•recall, detention or seizure of our products;
•operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;
•refusing or delaying our requests for 510(k) clearance or PMA approval of new products or modified products;
•operating restrictions;
•withdrawing 510(k) clearances or PMA approvals that have already been granted;
•refusal to grant export approval for our products; or
•criminal prosecution.
Promotional Materials - “Off-Label” Promotion
Advertising and promotion of medical devices, in addition to being regulated by the FDA, are also regulated by the Federal Trade Commission and by state regulatory and enforcement authorities. If the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training constitutes promotion of an unapproved use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an untitled letter, a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine, or criminal penalties. It is also possible that other federal, state, or foreign enforcement authorities might take action if they consider our promotional or training materials to constitute promotion of an unapproved use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under other statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false claims for reimbursement. In that event, we could be subject to additional significant penalties, such as exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs, and our reputation could be damaged and adoption of the products would be impaired.
In addition, under the federal Lanham Act and similar state laws, competitors, and others can initiate litigation relating to advertising claims.
International Regulation of Our Products
Our research, development and clinical programs, as well as our manufacturing and marketing operations, are subject to extensive regulation in countries outside of the US.
In the European Economic Area (“EEA”) (comprised of the 27 EU Member States, plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway), Regulation ("EU") 2017/745 on Medical Devices, or the Medical Device Regulation (“MDR”) and its associated guidance documents and harmonized standards govern many aspects of the regulation of medical devices. This includes device design and development, preclinical and clinical or performance testing, premarket conformity assessment, registration and listing, manufacturing, labeling, storage, claims, sales and distribution, export and import and post-market surveillance, vigilance, and market surveillance.
Medical devices must comply with the General Safety and Performance Requirements (“GSPRs”), set out in Annex I to the Medical Device Regulation. Compliance with these requirements is a prerequisite to affixing the CE mark to devices, without which they cannot be marketed or sold in the EEA. To demonstrate compliance with the GSPRs provided in the Medical Device Regulation and obtain the right to affix the CE mark, medical devices manufacturers must conduct a conformity assessment procedure, which
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varies according to the type of medical device and its classification. Apart from low-risk medical devices (Class I with no measuring function and which are not sterile), in relation to which the manufacturer may issue an EU Declaration of Conformity based on a self-assessment of the conformity of its products with the GSPRs, a conformity assessment procedure requires review by a Notified Body. A Notified Body is an organization designated by a Competent Authority of an EEA country to conduct conformity assessments. Depending on the relevant conformity assessment procedure, the Notified Body audits and examines the technical documentation and the quality system for the manufacture, design and final inspection of the medical device. Following a successful assessment process, the Notified Body issues a CE Certificate of Conformity. This Certificate and completion of the related conformity assessment process entitles the manufacturer to affix the CE mark to its medical devices after having prepared and signed a related EU Declaration of Conformity.
As a general rule, demonstration of conformity of medical devices and their manufacturers with the GSPRs must include the evaluation of clinical data supporting the safety and performance of the products during normal conditions of use. Specifically, a manufacturer must demonstrate that the device achieves its intended performance during normal conditions of use and that the known and foreseeable risks, and any adverse events, are minimized and acceptable when weighed against the benefits of its intended performance, and that any claims made about the performance and safety of the device (e.g., product labeling and instructions for use) are supported by suitable evidence. This assessment must be based on clinical data, which can be obtained from (1) clinical investigations conducted on the devices being assessed, (2) scientific literature from similar devices whose equivalence with the assessed device can be demonstrated or (3) both clinical investigations and scientific literature. Moreover, after a device is placed on the market, it remains subject to significant regulatory requirements that must commonly be fulfilled by the manufacturer or on their behalf.
The Medical Device Regulation includes a number of transitional provisions. Manufacturers of medical devices may only benefit from the transitional provisions if certain conditions are fulfilled.
The advertising and promotion of medical devices in the EEA is subject to the national laws of the individual EEA countries. Directive 2006/114/EC concerning misleading and comparative advertising, and Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices, as well as other national legislation of individual EEA countries govern the advertisement and promotion of medical devices. The national legislation of individual EEA countries may also restrict or impose limitations on our ability to advertise our products directly to the general public. In addition, voluntary EU and national industry Codes of Conduct provide guidelines on the advertising and promotion of our products to the general public and may impose limitations on our promotional activities with healthcare professionals.
Moreover, outside the United States, interactions between medical device companies and healthcare professionals are also governed by strict laws, such as national anti-bribery laws of EEA countries, national sunshine rules, regulations, industry self-regulation codes of conduct and physicians’ codes of professional conduct.
In Great Britain (i.e. England, Wales, and Scotland), medical devices are governed by the Medical Device Regulations ("UK MDR") 2002, as amended. In light of the fact that the CE Marking process discussed above is set out in EU law, which no longer applies in the United Kingdom (other than in Northern Ireland), the United Kingdom has devised a new route to market culminating in a UK Conformity Assessed ("UKCA") Mark to replace the CE Mark. The UK Government has established transitional provisions to recognize the acceptance of CE marked medical devices on the Great Britain market.
Regulatory Status
In November 2008, we received 510(k) clearance to market our first generation iFuse implant from the FDA. Since 2008, we have received additional FDA 510(k) clearances for new instruments, additional implant sizes and labeling changes. In the United States, our first-generation iFuse implants and our iFuse-3D implants are intended for sacroiliac fusion for the following conditions: sacroiliac joint dysfunction that is a direct result of sacroiliac joint disruptions and degenerative sacroiliitis, which includes conditions where symptoms began during pregnancy or in the peripartum period and have persisted postpartum for more than six months; to
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augment immobilization and stabilization of the sacroiliac joint in skeletally mature patients undergoing sacropelvic fixation as part of a lumbar or thoracolumbar fusion; and acute, non-acute, and non-traumatic fractures involving the sacroiliac joint.
In February 2021, we received 510(k) clearance to market our iFuse TORQ from the FDA.
In June 2022, we received an additional 510(k) clearance from the FDA to extend the use of iFuse TORQ to include fragility fractures. This clearance opens a new population that can benefit from sacroiliac joint fusion and fracture fixation using iFuse TORQ.
In September 2022, we received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for use of iFuse TORQ using the Bedrock technique. This clearance allows us to promote the use of a threaded implant (iFuse TORQ) in a trajectory that is familiar to surgeons through a previous clearance for the same use for iFuse-3D. In the United States, the iFuse TORQ Implant System is indicated for sacroiliac joint fusion for:
•Sacroiliac joint dysfunction including sacroiliac joint disruption and degenerative sacroiliitis.
•Augmenting immobilization and stabilization of the sacroiliac joint in skeletally mature patients undergoing sacropelvic fixation as part of a lumbar or thoracolumbar fusion.
The iFuse TORQ Implant System is also indicated for fracture fixation of the pelvis, including acute, non-acute and non-traumatic fractures.
In May 2022, we received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for iFuse Bedrock Granite. This implant combines benefits of a pelvic fixation screw with attachment to posterior rods of pedicle screw systems and simultaneous fusion of the sacroiliac joint related to the device’s porous surface. This device previously received breakthrough device designation from the FDA in November 2021. The combination of breakthrough designation and FDA clearance allowed us to obtain an NTAP from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service ("CMS"). NTAP provides an additional payment to hospitals for eligible cases that use iFuse Bedrock Granite.
In June 2023, we received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for iFuse TORQ placement in the posterolateral or lateral oblique trajectory. The most recent FDA 510(k) premarket clearance was received in January 2024 for the iFuse Bedrock Granite® Implant System in a smaller (9.5 mm) diameter with both an expanded indication in pediatric patients, and an expanded application that includes use in the S1 trajectory.
In August 2024, we received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for the iFuse TORQ TNTTM Implant System. The TNT implant system is designed to meet the specific anatomical and bone mineral density needs of the sacrum and ilium and will serve as the next generation technology for pelvic fragility fracture fixation and sacroiliac joint fusion. This implant includes a porous threaded implant with lengths capable of spanning the posterior pelvis, passing through the ipsilateral ilium, sacrum, and into the contralateral ilium. This implant received breakthrough device designation from the FDA.
In the future, we plan to pursue additional 510(k) clearances for new products and changes to the current indication for iFuse.
In November 2010, we obtained a CE Certificate of Conformity from our Notified Body (DEKRA) and affixed a CE mark to our iFuse Implant System in accordance with the Medical Device Directive ("MDD") to allow commercialization of our triangular iFuse implants in the EEA. In the EEA and Switzerland, iFuse is intended for sacroiliac joint fusion, including use in high and low energy fractures of the pelvic ring. Since 2010, we have renewed our Certificates, added additional instruments, implant sizes and labeling updates and iFuse-3D, our second generation iFuse implant, to our product offerings in the EEA. We plan to continue to work with our Notified Body to update our Technical Files and incorporate updates to our products in the EEA in accordance with applicable legislative requirements.
In 2021, a UK Responsible Person was appointed and we registered the iFuse Implant System with the Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory agency. We rely on our CE marks to continue to place our devices on the market in Great Britain until the requirement to obtain a UKCA mark applies to our devices.
As of May 26, 2021, the European Union no longer applies the Mutual Recognition Agreement between the EEA and Switzerland. However, Switzerland continues to recognize marked medical devices CE marked in accordance with the relevant EU legislation. As a result, we rely on our CE mark to continue to place our devices on the market in Switzerland. Manufacturers based outside of Switzerland are required to appoint a Swiss authorized representative in compliance with the Swiss Medical Device Ordinance. As a consequence, we have appointed an authorized representative in Switzerland and continue to work to meet Swiss requirements for the import of medical devices.
In 2022, we began the effort of obtaining approval for iFuse and iFuse-3D under EU MDR. As of December 2023, our quality system received MDR approval under ISO 13485:2016. Additionally, EU MDR Certificates of Conformity were issued by DEKRA
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for iFuse and iFuse 3D surgical instruments. We are awaiting issuance of our MDR Certificates of Conformity for iFuse-3D implants and iFuse TORQ instruments and implants.
We maintain approval for iFuse in regions beyond the United States and the EEA, including Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.
Environmental Regulations
We outsource substantially all the manufacturing of our products, therefore we have not incurred significant expenses relating to our compliance with federal, state, or local environmental laws and do not expect to incur significant expenses in the foreseeable future. However, due to the nature of our operations and the frequently changing nature of environmental compliance standards and technology, we cannot predict with any certainty that future material capital or operating expenditures will not be required in order to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations.
Healthcare Fraud and Abuse
Federal and state governmental agencies and equivalent foreign authorities subject the healthcare industry to intense regulatory scrutiny, including heightened civil and criminal enforcement efforts. These laws constrain the sales, marketing and other promotional activities of medical device manufacturers by limiting the kinds of financial arrangements we may have with hospitals, physicians and other potential purchasers and prescribers of our products. Federal healthcare fraud and abuse laws apply to our business when a customer submits a claim for an item or service that is reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid, or other federally funded healthcare programs. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include:
•the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or paying remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, lease, order, arrangement for, or recommendation of, items or services for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under federal healthcare programs, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The term “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value, and the government can establish a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute without proving that a person or entity had actual knowledge of, or a specific intent to violate, the law;
•the federal civil False Claims Act, which prohibits, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, false or fraudulent claims for payment of government funds; knowingly making, using, or causing to be made or used, a false record or statement to get a false claim paid or to avoid, decrease, or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government. A claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. Actions under the False Claims Act may be brought by the government or as a qui tam action by a private individual in the name of the government and to share in any monetary recovery. There are also criminal penalties for making or presenting a false or fictitious or fraudulent claim to the federal government;
•the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which imposes criminal and civil liability for, among other actions, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program including private third-party payors, or knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing, or covering up a material fact or making a materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation, or making or using any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items, or services;
•the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act, implemented by the Centers for CMS as the Open Payments program, which requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program to report annually to the CMS, information related to payments and other “transfers of value” made to physicians (currently defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), other healthcare professionals (including physician assistants and nurse practitioners), and teaching hospitals,
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and requires applicable manufacturers to report annually to CMS ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members and payments or other “transfers of value” to such physician owners;
•analogous state and foreign law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including commercial insurers and patients; state and foreign laws that require device companies to comply with the industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the applicable compliance guidance promulgated by the government or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources; state and foreign beneficiary inducement laws, and state and foreign laws that require device manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts.
If we or our employees are found to have violated any of the above laws we may be subject to significant administrative, civil and criminal penalties, including imprisonment, exclusion from participation in federal health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and equivalents foreign penalties, significant fines, monetary penalties and damages, the restructuring or curtailment of our operations, imposition of compliance obligations and monitoring, and damage to our reputation. For a more detailed description of the federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, see the risk factor “We and our sales representatives must comply with U.S. federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including those relating to healthcare provider kickbacks and false claims for reimbursement, and other applicable federal and state healthcare laws, as well as equivalent foreign laws, and failure to comply could negatively affect our business” in the Risks Related to Our Legal and Regulatory Environment section of Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and similar anti-bribery laws in other countries, such as the United Kingdom Bribery Act (“UKBA”), generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials and/or other persons for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws.
Both the federal and state governments in the United States and foreign governments continue to propose and pass new legislation and regulations designed to contain or reduce the cost of healthcare. Such legislation and regulations may result in decreased reimbursement for medical devices, which may further exacerbate industry-wide pressure to reduce the prices charged for medical devices.
Data Privacy and Security Laws
In the ordinary course of our business, we process personal or sensitive data. Accordingly, we are, or may become, subject to numerous data privacy and security obligations, including federal, state, local, and foreign laws, regulations, guidance, and industry standards related to data privacy and security. Such obligations may include, without limitation, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“EU GDPR”), the EU GDPR as it forms part of United Kingdom (“UK”) law by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“UK GDPR”), and the ePrivacy Directive. Several states within the United States have enacted or proposed data privacy laws. For example, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”) (collectively, “CCPA”). Virginia passed the Consumer Data Protection Act, and Colorado passed the Colorado Privacy Act. Additionally, we are, or may become, subject to various U.S. federal and state consumer protection laws which require us to publish statements that accurately and fairly describe how we handle personal data and choices individuals may have about the way we handle their personal data.
The CCPA and EU GDPR are examples of the increasingly stringent and evolving regulatory frameworks related to personal data processing that may increase our compliance obligations and exposure for any noncompliance. For example, the CCPA imposes obligations on covered businesses to provide specific disclosures related to a business’s collecting, using, and disclosing personal data and to respond to certain requests from California residents related to their personal data (for example, requests to know of the business’s personal data processing activities, to delete the individual’s personal data, and to opt out of certain personal data disclosures). Also, the CCPA provides for civil penalties and a private right of action for data breaches which may include an award of statutory damages. In addition, the CPRA expanded the CCPA by giving California residents the ability to limit use of certain sensitive personal data, establishing restrictions on personal data retention, expanding the types of data breaches that are subject to the CCPA’s private right of action, and establishing a new California Privacy Protection Agency to implement and enforce the new law. Foreign data privacy and security laws (including but not limited to the EU GDPR and UK GDPR) impose significant and complex compliance obligations on entities that are subject to those laws. As one example, the EU GDPR applies to any company established in the EEA and to companies established outside the EEA that process personal data in connection with the offering of goods or services to data subjects in the EEA or the monitoring of the behavior of data subjects in the EEA. These obligations may include limiting personal data processing to only what is necessary for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes; requiring a legal basis for personal data processing; requiring the appointment of a data protection officer in certain circumstances; increasing transparency
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obligations to data subjects; requiring data protection impact assessments in certain circumstances; limiting the collection and retention of personal data; increasing rights for data subjects; formalizing a heightened and codified standard of data subject consents; requiring the implementation and maintenance of technical and organizational safeguards for personal data; mandating notice of certain personal data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority(ies) and affected individuals; and mandating the appointment of representatives in the UK and/or the EU in certain circumstances.
We are also subject to various federal, state and foreign laws that protect the confidentiality of certain patient health information, including patient medical records, and restrict the use and disclosure of patient health information by healthcare providers, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and its implementing regulations, as amended by Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act enacted under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 (collectively, “HIPAA”), in the United States.
HIPAA imposes obligations on “covered entities,” including certain healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses, and their respective “business associates” that create, receive, maintain or transmit individually identifiable health information for or on behalf of a covered entity as well as their covered subcontractors, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. HIPAA also requires the notification of patients, reporting to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and other compliance actions, in the event of a breach of unsecured Protected Health Information (“PHI”). Required notification must be provided without unreasonable delay and in no event later than 60 calendar days after discovery of the breach, under HIPAA. In addition, if the PHI of 500 or more individuals is improperly used or disclosed, HHS would post the notification on its website, and we may be required to notify the media. Failure to comply with the HIPAA privacy and security standards can result in significant civil monetary penalties, and, in certain circumstances, criminal penalties, including imprisonment.
In addition, even when HIPAA does not apply other federal and state laws impose security obligations. For example, according to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal information secure constitutes unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTCA, 15 U.S.C § 45(a). The FTC expects a company’s data security measures to be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of consumer information it holds, the size and complexity of its business, and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities.
See the section titled “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry” for additional information about the laws and regulations to which we may become subject and about the risks to our business associated with such laws and regulation.
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Manufacturing and Supply
We use third-party manufacturers to produce our implants and instruments. To mitigate supply risk, we use a rolling twelve month forecast and take into consideration production lead times to maintain adequate levels of inventory for our iFuse-3D, iFuse TORQ and iFuse Bedrock Granite implants. Most of our instruments have secondary manufacturing suppliers and we continually work with additional manufacturers as our secondary suppliers. Substantially all of our products, including all of our implants, are manufactured in the United States.
Our only supplier for our iFuse-3D and iFuse TORQ and iFuse TORQ TNT implants is rms Company ("RMS"). We entered into an exclusive Manufacture and Supply Agreement with RMS in February 2024 (the "Manufacture and Supply Agreement") which supersedes and replaces our prior Manufacturing, Quality and Supply Agreement with RMS. Pursuant to the Manufacture and Supply Agreement, RMS manufactures certain of our implants in accordance with our specifications. The agreement provides us with the right to quality alternative sources from whom we may purchase products in the event of a supply failure by RMS. The prices we pay for products are fixed under the agreement through 2026. The agreement has a three-year initial term and automatically renews for successive one-year periods; provided, however, the agreement may be terminated early by either party, as specified in the agreement.
Our iFuse Bedrock Granite implant is manufactured and assembled by third-party suppliers, including RMS.
We believe that our manufacturing operations, and those of our suppliers, comply with regulations mandated by the FDA and the EU. Manufacturing facilities that produce medical devices or component parts intended for distribution world-wide are subject to regulation and periodic planned and unannounced inspection by the FDA and other domestic and foreign regulatory authorities as well as Notified Bodies.
In the United States, products we sell are required to be manufactured in compliance with the FDA's Quality System Regulation, codified at 21 CFR Part 820, which covers the methods used in, and the facilities used for, the design, testing, control, manufacturing, labeling, quality assurance, packaging, storage, and shipping. In international markets, we are required to comply with similar requirements. Our status in FDA’s Establishment Registration and Device Listing is active and we also maintain the Medical Device Manufacturing License issued by the State of California’s Department of Public Health Food and Drug Branch. In the EEA, we are required to comply with Quality Management System ("QMS") requirements established in EU medical device legislation. To demonstrate compliance with these requirements, we obtain and maintain ISO13485:2016 Quality Management System certification for our locations in Santa Clara, California, and Gallarate Italy, issued by DEKRA Certification, B.V.
We obtain and maintain appropriate CE Certificates of Conformity delivered by our Notified Body, DEKRA, for any medical devices we placed on the EU market in accordance with applicable EU medical device legislation.
We are required to demonstrate continuing compliance with applicable requirements to maintain these certifications and CE Certificates of Conformity and will continue to be periodically inspected by international regulatory authorities for certification purposes. Further, we and certain of our suppliers are required to comply with all applicable regulations and current good manufacturing practices. As set forth above, these FDA and EU regulatory requirements cover, among other things, the methods and documentation of the design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, sterilization, storage, and shipping of our products. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic inspections. If we or our manufacturers fail to adhere to current good manufacturing practice requirements, this could delay production of our products and lead to fines, difficulties in obtaining or renewing regulatory approvals or CE Certificates of Conformity, recalls, enforcement actions, including injunctive relief or consent decrees, or other consequences, which could, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
Product Liability and Insurance
The manufacture and sale of our products subjects us to the risk of financial exposure to product liability claims. Our products are used in situations in which there is a risk of serious injury or death. We carry insurance policies which we believe to be customary for similar companies in our industry. We cannot assure you that these policies will be sufficient to cover all or substantially all losses that we experience.
We endeavor to maintain executive and organization liability insurance in a form and with aggregate coverage limits that we believe are adequate for our business purposes, but our coverage limits may prove not to be adequate in some circumstances.
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Human Capital Resources
Our ability to recruit, develop and retain highly skilled talent is a significant determinant of our success. To attract, retain, and develop our talent, we seek to create a diverse and inclusive workplace with opportunities for our employees to thrive and advance in their careers. We support this with market-competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, and health and well-being programs.
In addition to ensuring equitable compensation for our employees, we maintain a strong focus on enhancing employee retention and job satisfaction and promoting workforce diversity. To achieve this, we have established a feedback mechanism to continually monitor and respond to employee sentiment. Using this feedback, we deploy strategies that enhance the skills of our people managers and improve internal communications with employees. Furthermore, we provide ongoing learning and leadership training opportunities to support professional growth.
We seek to create a transparent and open culture that promotes lawful and ethical conduct. As part of our new hire orientation curriculum, each new employee undergoes training on our code of conduct, corporate compliance polices and the legal, regulatory and industry code frameworks governing our business as a manufacturer and distributor of medical devices. Based on their role, employees also participate in periodic refresher trainings and trainings around particular topics of current importance related to legal compliance. We have established clear expectations of our employees and take corrective action if a compliance issue arises. We have a standing Compliance Committee in which our most senior executives participate in quarterly meetings, and we report annually to our Board of Directors on risk management and legal compliance. We also report quarterly to our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee on compliance, including a dashboard presentation. We view our employees as our most important partners in creating a culture of compliance, led by our senior leadership team but in which each employee is also an accountable participant.
As of December 31, 2024, we had 349 employees, including sales and marketing, product development, general administrative and accounting, both domestically and internationally. As of December 31, 2024, we had a direct field sales organization of 158 in the United States and nine in Europe. During 2024, our voluntary attrition rate was approximately 8%.
Company History
SI-BONE was founded in 2008 by the principal inventor of the iFuse triangle, orthopedist Mark A. Reiley, M.D., our current Chairman of the Board, Jeffrey W. Dunn, and orthopedic surgeon Leonard Rudolf, M.D.
Corporate Information
We were incorporated in March 2008 in Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at 471 El Camino Real, Suite 101, Santa Clara, California 95050 and our telephone number is (408) 207-0700. Our website address is www.si-bone.com. We completed our initial public offering in October 2018, and our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “SIBN.”
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available free of charge on our website. The information contained on or that can be accessed through our website is not incorporated by reference into this report, and you should not consider information on our website to be part of this report.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Investors should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and the section “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and our stockholders may lose all or part of their investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations.
Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry
We have incurred significant operating losses since inception, we may continue to incur operating losses in the future, and we may not be able to achieve or sustain future profitability.
We have incurred net losses since our inception in 2008. For the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022 we had net losses of $30.9 million, $43.3 million, and $61.3 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $431.4 million. We have financed our operations primarily through the net proceeds of our public offerings of our common stock, private placements of equity securities, certain debt-related financing arrangements, and from sales of our products. We have devoted substantially all of our resources to research and development of our products, sales and marketing activities, investments in training and educating surgeons and other healthcare providers, and clinical and regulatory matters for our products. There can be no assurances that we will be able to generate sufficient revenue from our existing products or from any of our product candidates in development, and to transition to profitability and generate consistent positive cash flows. We expect that our operating expenses will continue to increase as we continue to develop, enhance, and commercialize our existing and new products and grow our commercial infrastructure. As a result, we may continue to incur operating losses for some time and may never achieve profitability. Furthermore, even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on an ongoing basis. If we do not achieve profitability, it will be more difficult for us to finance our business and accomplish our strategic objectives.
Our expected future capital requirements depend on many factors including expanding our physician base, the expansion of our sales force including through hybrid sales agencies, investment in implants and instruments, the timing and extent of spending on the development of our technology to increase our product offerings, and potential investment in additional product and service offerings through the acquisition of other businesses. We may need additional funding for our operations, but additional funds may not be available to us on acceptable terms on a timely basis, if at all. We may seek funds through borrowings or through additional rounds of financing, including private or public equity or debt offerings. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Any future debt financing into which we enter may impose upon us additional covenants that restrict our operations, including limitations on our ability to incur liens or additional debt, pay dividends, repurchase our common stock, make certain investments, and engage in certain merger, consolidation or asset sale transactions. Any future debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. Furthermore, we cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The capital markets have deteriorated substantially since the beginning of 2022, especially with respect to securities issued by small- and mid-cap companies in the medical device sector. Equity and debt capital have become substantially more expensive and difficult to raise on attractive terms. If we are unable to raise additional capital or generate sufficient cash from operations to adequately fund our operations, we will need to curtail planned activities to reduce costs, which will likely harm our ability to execute on our business plan and continue operations.
We may not be able to convince physicians that our products are attractive alternatives to our competitors’ products and that our procedures are attractive alternatives to existing surgical and non-surgical treatments for their respective indications.
Physicians, in consultation with their patients, play the primary role in determining the course of treatment and, ultimately, any product that will be used in treatment. For us to sell our products successfully, we must demonstrate to physicians through education and training that treatment with one or more of our iFuse family of implants is beneficial, safe, and cost-effective for patients as compared to our competitors’ products. If we are not successful in demonstrating the merits of our products to physicians, their use of our products may decline, adversely affecting our revenues and profitability.
Historically, many physicians did not include an evaluation of the sacroiliac joint in their diagnostic work-up because they did not have an adequate surgical procedure to perform for patients diagnosed with sacroiliac joint dysfunction. We believe that educating physicians and other healthcare professionals about the clinical merits and patient benefits of our iFuse family of implants is an important element of building our business. If we fail to effectively educate physicians and other medical professionals, they may not
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include a sacroiliac joint evaluation as part of their diagnosis and, as a result, those patients may continue to receive unnecessary surgical procedures or only non-surgical treatment.
Physicians may also hesitate to change their medical treatment practices for other reasons, including the following:
•lack of experience with similar procedures;
•perceived liability risks generally associated with the use of our products and procedures;
•costs associated with the purchase of our products; and
• time commitment that may be required for training.
Furthermore, we believe physicians will not widely use our products unless they determine, based on experience, clinical data, and published peer-reviewed publications, that our products offer an attractive alternative to non-surgical treatments of sacroiliac joint dysfunction. In addition, we believe support for our products relies heavily on long-term data showing their benefits. If we are unable to provide that data, physicians may not use our products. In such circumstances, we may not achieve expected sales and may be unable to achieve profitability.
We believe that training is particularly important in instances of newly launched products or the introduction of a product into a new market. If physicians are not properly trained, they may misuse our products, which may result in unsatisfactory patient outcomes, patient injury, negative publicity, or lawsuits against us. In addition, a failure to educate the medical community regarding our products may impair our ability to achieve market acceptance of our products.
Patients with sacroiliac joint dysfunction are cared for by a variety of health care providers, including spine surgeons and pain physicians and other interventionalist spine physicians, who are generally trained as anesthesiologists, interventional radiologists, or physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists. These interventionalists often offer a variety of non-surgical and surgical interventions to sacroiliac joint dysfunction patients, including, but not limited to, steroid injections, radiofrequency ablation of the nerves serving the sacroiliac joint, and implantation of neurostimulation devices, stabilization and fusion implants and other products intended to treat the sacroiliac joint or the pain it can cause. Our professional education program seeks to teach these physicians, and other health care providers, about the benefits of our iFuse products, with the intent of either having them adopt and perform our procedures or refer their patients with sacroiliac joint dysfunction to physicians who have been trained to perform our procedures. Providers who have not been educated on or adopted our procedures may prefer to continue to treat these patients with other interventions they offer because of physician preference or their view that these interventions are superior.
The AMA CPT Editorial Panel introduced a new permanent Category 1 CPT Code, 27278, to describe minimally invasive sacroiliac fusion achieved with placement of an intra-articular implant without the use of a transfixing device. While we offer products that can be used in procedures described by both CPT Codes 27278 and 27279, historically our primary focus has been on products used in procedures described by CPT Code 27279. If more physicians elect to offer, or more patients elect to undergo, procedures described by CPT Code 27278, or if we are unable to demonstrate to physicians the comparative benefits of our products that are intended for use in CPT Code 27278 procedures, sales of our iFuse implants could decline or fail to grow, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers are unable to obtain and maintain adequate or any coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors for procedures performed using our products, further adoption of our products may be delayed, and it is unlikely that they will gain further acceptance, and the prices paid for our implants may decline.
Maintaining and growing sales of our products depends on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors, including government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, private insurance plans, and managed care programs. Hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers that purchase or use medical devices generally rely on third-party payors to pay for all or part of the costs and fees associated with the procedures performed with these devices. When a procedure using our implants is performed, the reimbursement process depends on the site of service. For procedures performed in a hospital or ambulatory surgical center, both the physicians and the healthcare facility submit claims for reimbursement to the healthcare payor. When the procedure is performed in an office-based lab, a single claim covers both physician services and facility costs.
The AMA develops and maintains CPT codes that are used by third-party payors to determine the amount of reimbursement that a healthcare provider and facility will receive for a particular service. As of January 1, 2025, the Medicare physician fee reimbursement for minimally invasive fusion with our laterally placed transfixing iFuse implants, described as CPT Code 27279, is $790. As of January 1, 2025, Medicare physician fee for procedures using intra-articular, non-transfixing implants, including our iFuse INTRA bone allograft products, is $465 when performed in the facility setting, and $11,805 when performed in the physician office
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(e.g., office-based lab) setting. Minimally invasive sacroiliac fusion performed with a transfixing device is not eligible for payment in the office-based lab site-of-service and there is therefore no corresponding value for office-based reimbursement for CPT Code 27279.
Even to the extent our products and procedures using our products are currently covered and reimbursed by third-party private and public payors, adverse changes in coverage and reimbursement policies that affect our products, discounts, and number of implants used may also drive our prices and revenue down and harm our ability to market and sell our products.
While all Medicare Administrative Contractors are regularly reimbursing for minimally invasive sacroiliac joint fusion utilizing laterally placed transfixing devices under CPT Code 27279, a small number of private payors still have policies that treat the procedure as experimental or investigational and do not regularly reimburse for the procedure.
In contrast, the reimbursement environment for the procedure described by CPT Code 27278 (placement of intra-articular implant without the placement of a transfixing device) is less consistent. In 2024, three Medicare Administrative Contractors finalized Local Coverage Determinations precluding coverage for CPT Code 27278. The coverage decisions of the remaining Medicare Administrative Contractors remain uncertain. We believe this reimbursement environment has impacted demand for our iFuse INTRA products.
Commercial payors generally set their physician fee reimbursement with reference to Medicare reimbursement rates. Many have yet to set coverage decisions for CPT Code 27278, and may decide not to cover these procedures until more evidence is developed. There is a small number of commercial payers with positive coverage policies for CPT Code 27278 procedures, and many may allow coverage on a case-by-case basis.
We may be unable to sell our products on a profitable basis if third-party payors deny coverage, or if reimbursement levels are insufficient to support use of our products by healthcare facilities or to compensate physicians for their time spent diagnosing patients and performing procedures using our products. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for procedures using our implants, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future.
Future action by the Centers for CMS or third-party payors may reduce the availability of payments to physicians, outpatient surgery centers, and/or hospitals for procedures using our products. Volatility in the payment rates that physicians and hospitals receive from CMS may have a material impact on their willingness to perform procedures including our products, as well as place additional pressure on pricing of our implants.
Market acceptance of our products in foreign markets may depend, in part, upon the availability of coverage and reimbursement within prevailing healthcare payment systems. Reimbursement and healthcare payment systems in international markets vary significantly by country and include both government-sponsored healthcare and private insurance. We may not obtain additional international coverage and reimbursement approvals in a timely manner, if at all. Our failure to receive such approvals would negatively impact market acceptance of our products in the international markets in which those approvals are sought.
Uncertainty in the coverage and reimbursement environment may decrease demand for our products and adversely affect our business.
Minimally invasive surgical sacroiliac joint fusion procedures are primarily separated into two main types: procedures where the devices transfix the joint, and newer procedures using intra-articular (in-line) devices that do not transfix the joint. The transfixing procedures are described by CPT Code 27279. The non-transfixing procedures are described by CPT Code 27278, which was adopted by the AMA CPT Editorial Panel on January 1, 2024.
We believe that the favorable coverage and reimbursement profile of CPT Code 27279 as compared to CPT Code 27278 is a result of third-party payers’ review and assessment of peer-reviewed clinical literature supporting its use. Most procedures available to U.S. patients have a clear coding interpretation, reported as either CPT Code 27279 or 27278. Ambiguity exists, however, over the proper categorization of some sacroiliac joint devices which use an intra-articular (in-line) approach, but also have integrated fixation design features which “pierce” ilium and sacrum bones on either side of the implant. The AMA is currently receiving proposals to change some code definitions, including for CPT code 27278 and CPT code 27279, to allow for newer sacroiliac joint procedures via the CPT Editorial process, which would impact the reporting of procedures effective January 1, 2026. These changes could impact the code definitions of either or both of these codes.
If procedures requiring lower work effort supported by lower-quality clinical evidence, and/or having less favorable patient outcomes are reported via CPT Code 27279 instead of CPT Code 27278 as a result of future changes to the code definitions, it may contribute to a loss of value for CPT Code 27279. This dynamic could also prompt reevaluations of third-party payers’ coverage policies, which could ultimately decrease demand for our products and negatively impact our business and prospects. Additionally, if physicians and facilities are confused about the proper coding for our products or our competitors’ products, physicians may choose
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competitors’ products or choose not to perform sacroiliac joint procedures altogether, which would adversely affect demand for our products.
Any changes of, or uncertainty with respect to, future coverage or reimbursement rates could affect demand for our products, which in turn could impact our ability to successfully commercialize our products and could have an adverse material effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Healthcare reforms may have a material adverse effect on our operations.
The healthcare industry in the United States has experienced a trend toward cost containment as government and private insurers seek to control healthcare costs. Payors are imposing lower payment rates and negotiating reduced contract rates with service providers and being increasingly selective about the technologies and procedures they choose to cover. Payors may adopt policies in the future restricting access to medical technologies like ours and/or the procedures performed using such technologies. Therefore, we cannot be certain that the procedures performed with each of our products will be reimbursed. There can be no guarantee that, should we introduce additional products in the future, payors will cover those products or the procedures in which they are used.
Recent political, economic, and regulatory influences are subjecting the healthcare industry to fundamental changes that can impact coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors. We expect that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2011, as currently enacted or as it may be amended in the future, and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, could have a material adverse effect on our industry generally and on our ability to maintain or increase sales of our existing products. In addition, on August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) into law, which among other things, extends enhanced subsidies for individuals purchasing health insurance coverage in ACA marketplaces through plan year 2025. The IRA also eliminates the “donut hole” under the Medicare Part D program beginning in 2025 by significantly lowering the beneficiary maximum out-of-pocket cost and creating a new manufacturer discount program. Further, CMS budget neutrality requirements may impose cuts to the Medicare physician fee schedule, which may be mitigated by acts of Congress or other changes to regulations. Other federal laws, known as budget sequestration, further reduce Medicare’s payments to providers by 2%, which, due to subsequent legislative amendments, will stay in effect through 2032. These reductions may reduce reimbursement for procedures performed using our products, which could potentially negatively impact our revenue, and may reduce providers’ revenues or profits, which could affect their ability to purchase new technologies. Both the federal and state governments in the United States and foreign governments continue to propose and pass new legislation and regulations designed to contain or reduce the cost of healthcare. Such legislation and regulations may result in decreased reimbursement for medical devices, which may further exacerbate industry-wide pressure to reduce the prices charged for medical devices. This could harm our ability to market our products and generate sales, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Pricing pressure from our competitors, healthcare provider consolidation, the presence of physician-owned distributorships, and payor consolidation may impact our ability to sell our product at prices necessary to support our current business strategies.
If competitive forces drive down the prices we are able to charge for our product, our profit margins will shrink, which will adversely affect our ability to invest in and maintain and grow our market share. The sacroiliac joint fusion market has attracted numerous new companies and technologies. As a result of this increased competition, we believe there will be continuing increased pricing pressure, resulting in lower gross margins, with respect to our products.
Consolidation in the healthcare industry, including both third-party payors and healthcare providers, could lead to demands for price concessions or to the exclusion of some suppliers from certain markets, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition. Because healthcare costs have risen significantly over the past several years, numerous initiatives and reforms initiated by legislators, regulators, and third-party payors to curb these costs have resulted in a consolidation trend in the healthcare industry to aggregate purchasing power. As the healthcare industry consolidates, competition to provide products and services to industry participants has become and will continue to become more intense. This in turn has resulted and will likely continue to result in greater pricing pressures and the exclusion of certain suppliers from important market segments as group purchasing organizations, independent delivery networks, and large single accounts continue to use their market power to consolidate purchasing decisions for hospitals. We expect that market demand, government regulation, third-party coverage, and reimbursement policies and societal pressures will continue to change the worldwide healthcare industry, resulting in further business consolidations and alliances among our customers, which may reduce competition, exert further downward pressure on the prices of our products,
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and adversely impact our business, results of operations, or financial condition. As we continue to expand into international markets, we will face similar risks relating to adverse changes in coverage and reimbursement procedures and policies in those markets.
Practice trends, market dynamics, and other factors, have caused, and may continue to cause, procedures to shift from the hospital environment to ambulatory surgical centers ("ASCs") or office-based labs ("OBLs") where pressure on the prices of our products is generally more acute.
We anticipate that more outpatient eligible procedures will be performed in ASCs and OBLs to control costs and expand patient access to medical procedures. This shift accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we expect it to continue because ASCs and OBLs are generally a more economically favorable site of service, and physicians performing the procedures and their practices sometimes have ownership interests in the ASC and generally own the OBL. Because reimbursement for procedures in an ASC or OBL is typically less than the reimbursement in an in-patient setting and due to physicians’ economic interest in ASCs and OBLs, we typically experience more pressure on the pricing of our products by ASCs and OBLs than by hospitals, and the average price for which we sell our products to ASCs and OBLs can be less than the average prices we charge to hospitals. In addition, some physicians may choose to use fewer implants due to their interest in the profitability of the ASC or OBL. An accelerated shift of procedures using our products to ASCs and OBLs could adversely impact the average selling prices of our products and our revenues could suffer as a result.
In 2024, CMS announced a TPT payment status for the use of the iFuse Bedrock Granite implant system in hospital outpatient and ASC settings of care, for procedures effective January 1, 2025. TPT allows the hospital outpatient departments and ASCs supporting the case to “pass through” the costs of the iFuse Bedrock Granite technology to the Medicare program, to encourage innovation and early access of new technologies for Medicare beneficiaries. We anticipate this may reduce pricing pressure on our Granite family of implants in the outpatient sites of care, particularly where the Medicare population is heavier. However, we have less experience with our Granite implants being used in outpatient procedures and it remains to be seen whether surgeons will perform more of these procedures in the outpatient setting in the future.
We have historically been highly dependent on revenue from the sale of a single family of products focused on procedures, the goal of which is to stabilize and fuse the sacroiliac joint. Continued reliance on a single family of products and single family of procedures could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.
The majority of our revenue comes from the sale of iFuse, iFuse-3D, iFuse TORQ, and iFuse Bedrock Granite implants, and related tools and instruments. Therefore, we are dependent on widespread market adoption of the iFuse family of products, and we will continue to be dependent on the success of this single product family for the foreseeable future. There can be no assurance that our solutions will maintain a substantial degree of market acceptance among physicians, patients or healthcare providers. Our failure to successfully grow the market for our solutions and increase our share within that market or any other event impeding our ability to sell iFuse, could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and continuing operations.
We operate in a very competitive business environment and if we are unable to compete successfully against our existing or potential competitors, our sales and operating results may be adversely affected.
Our currently marketed products are, and any future products we commercialize will likely be, subject to intense competition. Our field is subject to rapid change and is highly sensitive to the introduction of new products or other market activities of industry participants. Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to develop proprietary products that reach the market in a timely manner, receive adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors, and are viewed as safer, less invasive, and more effective than alternatives available for similar purposes as demonstrated in peer-reviewed clinical publications. Because of the size of the potential market, other companies have dedicated, and likely will continue to dedicate, significant resources to developing competing products.
The number of competitors that we are aware of marketing sacroiliac joint fusion products in the United States has grown considerably since 2008. Some of our current and potential competitors are major medical device companies that have substantially greater financial, technical, and marketing resources than we do, and they may succeed in developing products that would render our products obsolete or noncompetitive. In addition, many of these competitors have significantly longer operating history and more established reputations than we do. Some of these companies sell a broad suite of products that can be used together in the operating room in order to facilitate surgery, such as surgical imaging, navigation and robotic systems, or a large number of implants intended to treat different conditions affecting the spine and pelvis. The ability of these competitors to sell these products together or as part of larger purchasing arrangements may put us at a disadvantage. In addition, if these competitors use technology, contracts, or intellectual property measures to limit or eliminate the compatibility of their surgical imaging, navigation and robotic systems with our products, sales of our products could decline or fail to grow, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We believe that our primary competitors marketing implantable devices currently are Globus Medical, Inc. and Medtronic plc. At any time, these or other industry participants may develop alternative treatments, products or procedures for the treatment of the
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sacroiliac joint that compete directly or indirectly with our products. They may also develop and patent processes or products earlier than we can, or obtain domestic and international regulatory clearances or approvals and CE Certificates of Conformity for competing products in the EEA, more rapidly than we can, which could impair our ability to develop and commercialize similar processes or products. If alternative treatments are, or are perceived to be, superior to our products, sales of our products and our results of operations could be negatively affected.
New participants have increasingly entered the medical device industry. Many of these new competitors specialize in a specific product or focus on a particular market segment, making it more difficult for us to increase our overall market position. The frequent introduction by competitors of products that are or claim to be superior to our current or planned future products may make it difficult to differentiate the benefits of our products over competing products. In addition, the entry of multiple new products and competitors may lead some of our competitors to employ pricing strategies that could adversely affect the pricing of our products and pricing in the market generally.
As a result, without the timely introduction of new products and enhancements, our products may become obsolete over time. If we are unable to develop innovative new products, maintain competitive pricing, and offer products that surgeons and other physicians perceive to be as reliable as those of our competitors, our market share or product margins could decrease, thereby harming our business.
We are dependent on a limited number of third-party suppliers, some of them single-source and some of them in single locations, for most of our products and components, and the loss of any of these suppliers, or their inability to provide us with an adequate supply of materials in a timely and cost-effective manner, could materially adversely affect our business.
We rely on third-party suppliers to manufacture and supply substantially all of our products. For us to be successful, we need our suppliers to provide us with products and components in substantial quantities, in compliance with regulatory requirements, in accordance with agreed upon specifications, at acceptable prices, and on a timely basis. We do not have long-term supply contracts for some of our suppliers, and in some cases, even where we do have agreements in place, we purchase important parts of the iFuse Implant System, including our implants, from a single supplier. Therefore, we cannot assure investors that we will be able to obtain sufficient quantities of product in the future.
In addition, future growth could strain the ability of our suppliers to deliver products, materials, and components. Suppliers often experience difficulties in scaling up production, including financial issues, or problems with production yields and quality
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control and assurance. For example, from time to time, we have experienced certain delays and may experience delays from our suppliers in the future.
We generally use a small number of suppliers for our instruments and currently rely on RMS for iFuse-3D and iFuse TORQ implants and for several of the components, including the assembly and packaging, of our iFuse Bedrock Granite implants. Our dependence on such a limited number of suppliers exposes us to risks, including, among other things:
• third-party contract manufacturers or suppliers may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or make errors in manufacturing that could negatively affect the safety or effectiveness of our products or cause delays in shipments of our products;
• third-party contract manufacturers or suppliers may fail to maintain good manufacturing practices, leading to quality control problems or regulatory findings that could cause disruptions in their manufacturing processes and affect the safety or effectiveness of our products or cause or lead to delays in shipments of our products;
• we or our third-party manufacturers and suppliers may not be able to respond to unanticipated changes in customer orders, and if orders do not match forecasts, we or our suppliers may have excess or inadequate inventory of materials and components;
• we or our third-party manufacturers and suppliers may be subject to price fluctuations due to a lack of long-term supply arrangements for key components;
• we or our third-party manufacturers and suppliers may lose access to critical services, raw materials and components, or experience significant delays in obtaining them, resulting in an interruption in the manufacture, assembly and shipment of our systems;
•we or our third-party manufacturers could experience plant closures due to local epidemics of communicable diseases or local outbreaks of such diseases among their workforce, thereby shuttering a plant in which our products are manufactured;
•we may experience delays in delivery by our third-party manufacturers and suppliers due to significant changes in our ordering volumes;
•fluctuations in demand for products that our third-party manufacturers and suppliers manufacture for others may affect their ability or willingness to deliver components to us in a timely manner;
•our third-party manufacturers and suppliers may wish to discontinue supplying components or services to us for risk management reasons;
•we may not be able to find new or alternative components or reconfigure our system and manufacturing processes in a timely manner if the necessary components become unavailable; and
•our third-party manufacturers and suppliers may encounter financial hardships unrelated to our demand, which could inhibit their ability to fulfill our orders and meet our requirements.
If any one or more of these risks materialize, it could significantly increase our costs and impact our ability to meet demand for our products and to launch new products. If we are unable to satisfy commercial demand for our system in a timely manner, our ability
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to generate revenue would be impaired, market acceptance of our products could be adversely affected, and customers may instead purchase or use our competitors’ products. Additionally, we could be forced to seek alternative sources of supply.
In addition, most of our supply and manufacturing agreements do not have minimum manufacturing or purchase obligations. As such, with many of our suppliers, we have no obligation to buy any given quantity of products, and the suppliers have no obligation to sell to us or to manufacture for us any given quantity of components or products. As a result, our ability to purchase adequate quantities of components or our products may be limited and we may not be able to convince suppliers to make components and products available to us in some instances. Our suppliers may also encounter problems that limit their ability to supply components or manufacture products for us, including financial difficulties, damage to their manufacturing equipment or facilities, product discontinuations or adverse findings in quality audits. As a result, there is a risk that certain components could be discontinued and no longer available to us. We may be required to make significant “last time” purchases of component inventory that is being discontinued by the supplier to ensure supply continuity. If we fail to obtain sufficient quantities of high quality components to meet demand for our products in a timely manner or on terms acceptable to us, we would have to seek alternative sources of supply. Securing a replacement third-party manufacturer or supplier could be difficult. The introduction of new or alternative manufacturers or suppliers also may require design changes to our iFuse system that are subject to domestic and international regulatory clearances or approvals and the review of our Notified Body.
Because of the nature of our internal quality control requirements, regulatory requirements, and the custom and proprietary nature of the parts, we may not be able to quickly engage additional or replacement suppliers for many of our critical components. We may also be required to assess any potential new manufacturer’s compliance with all applicable regulations and guidelines, which could further impede our ability to manufacture our products in a timely manner. As a result, we could incur increased production costs, experience delays in deliveries of our products, suffer damage to our reputation, and experience an adverse effect on our business and financial results. Failure of any of our third-party suppliers to meet our product demand level would limit our ability to meet our sales commitments to our customers and could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may also have difficulty obtaining similar components from other suppliers that are acceptable to the FDA, other foreign regulatory authorities, or applicable QMS requirements and the failure of our suppliers to comply with strictly enforced regulatory requirements could expose us to delays in obtaining marketing clearances, approvals or CE Certificates of Conformity, regulatory action including warning letters, product recalls, termination of distribution, operating restrictions, interruption of production, delays in the introduction of products into the market, product seizures, civil, administrative, or criminal penalties and the suspension, variation, or withdrawal of our CE Certificates of Conformity. We could incur delays while we locate and engage qualified alternative suppliers, and we may be unable to engage alternative suppliers on favorable terms or at all. Any such disruption or increased expenses could harm our commercialization efforts and adversely affect our ability to generate sales.
In addition, each of our third-party suppliers operates at a facility in a single location and substantially all of our inventory of component supplies and finished goods is held at these locations. Vandalism, terrorism, or a natural or other disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, or flood, could damage or destroy equipment or our inventory of component supplies or finished products, cause substantial delays in our operations, result in the loss of key information, and cause us to incur additional expenses. Our insurance may not cover our losses in any particular case. In addition, regardless of the level of insurance coverage, damage to our or our suppliers’ facilities could harm our business, financial condition, and operating results.
Prolonged inflation and supply chain disruptions could result in delayed product launches, lost revenue, higher costs and decreased profit margins.
A majority of our products are manufactured and sold inside of the United States, which increases our exposure to domestic inflation and fuel price increases. Inflationary pressures may result in increased fuel, raw materials and other costs which, if they continue for a prolonged period, may adversely affect our results of operations. We continue to actively monitor the impact of various macroeconomic trends, such as tariffs, changes to international trade agreements, labor costs, interest rates, inflation rates, and geopolitical instability within the United States and abroad. The implementation of more restrictive trade policies, including the imposition of further tariffs in connection with the new presidential administration in the United States and retaliatory tariffs in response thereto, or the renegotiation of existing trade agreements with the United States or countries where we source supplies, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. For example, much of the titanium used in our implants is sourced from Canada and any disruption to trade with Canada caused by tariffs could increase the cost or disrupt the supply of our implants, which could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operation. Our efforts to mitigate supply chain weaknesses may not be successful or may have unfavorable effects. For example, efforts to purchase raw materials in advance for product manufacturing may result in increased storage costs or excess supply. If our costs rise due to significant inflationary pressures, tariffs, or supply chain disruptions, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. In addition, delays in obtaining materials, components or instruments from our suppliers could delay product launches or result in lost opportunities to sell our products due to their availability. Increased costs and decreased product availability due to supply chain issues
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could adversely impact our revenue and/or gross margin, and could thereby harm our business, financial condition, and results of operation.
Disruptions in the supply of the materials and components used in manufacturing our products or the sterilization of our products by third-party suppliers could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our suppliers purchase many of the materials and components used in the manufacture of our products from third-party suppliers. Certain of these materials and components can only be obtained from a single source or a limited number of sources due to quality considerations, expertise, costs or constraints resulting from regulatory requirements. In certain cases, our suppliers may not be able to establish additional or replacement suppliers for such materials or components or outsourced activities in a timely or cost-effective manner. A reduction or interruption in the supply of materials or components used in manufacturing our products, such as due to one or more suppliers experiencing reductions in operations and/or worker absences due to health epidemics, an inability to timely develop and validate alternative sources if required, or a significant increase in the price of such materials or components, such as that caused by inflation and rising interest rates, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, certain of our products require titanium, which is sourced from third-party suppliers. While the titanium required for such products is not directly sourced from Russia, the current geopolitical events involving Russia and Ukraine are negatively impacting the wider titanium supply chain. These geopolitical events and related factors and results, including related sanctions, may negatively impact the ability of our suppliers’ third-party supply sources to timely supply titanium to our suppliers and may increase or result in additional costs to us.
In addition, many of our products require sterilization prior to sale, and our suppliers use contract sterilizers to perform this service. To the extent that these contract sterilizers are unable to sterilize our products, whether due to capacity, availability of materials for sterilization, regulatory or other constraints, including reductions in operations and/or worker absences due to health
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epidemics, we may be unable to transition to other contract sterilizers, sterilizer locations or sterilization methods in a timely or cost effective manner or at all, which could have a material impact on our results of operations and financial condition.
Physicians and payors may not find the clinical evidence supporting our more recent products to be compelling, which could limit our sales and revenue, and on-going and future research may prove our products to be less safe and effective than currently thought.
The products we currently market in the United States have either received premarket clearance under Section 510(k) of the United States FDCA, or are exempt from premarket review. Those marketed in the EEA have been the subject of a CE Certificate of Conformity. The 510(k) clearance process of the FDA requires us to document that our product is “substantially equivalent” to another 510(k)-cleared product. The 510(k) process is shorter and typically requires the submission of less supporting documentation than other FDA approval processes, such as a PMA, and does not usually require pre-clinical or clinical studies. As a result, each of our products has been launched prior to gathering substantial prospective clinical trial evidence, and our post-market clinical studies may lack the size and scope of randomized controlled clinical trials required to support approval of a PMA. For these reasons, physicians may be slow to adopt our more recent products including iFuse TORQ, iFUse Bedrock Granite and iFuse INTRA, each of which are supported by smaller bodies of clinical evidence than iFuse and iFuse-3D, third-party payors may be slow to provide coverage for novel procedures and techniques using these products, and we may be subject to greater regulatory and product liability risks. Further, future patient studies or clinical experience may indicate that treatment with any of our products does not improve patient outcomes. Such results would slow the adoption of our products by physicians, significantly reduce our ability to achieve expected sales, and could prevent us from achieving profitability.
If clinical experience with our iFuse Bedrock technique or our iFuse Bedrock Granite, iFuse TORQ, or iFuse INTRA products do not result in positive outcomes for patients, or if clinical trials involving the use of iFuse Bedrock, iFuse Bedrock Granite, iFuse INTRA and/or iFuse TORQ fail to show meaningful patient benefit, sales of our iFuse, iFuse-3D, iFuse TORQ and/or iFuse Bedrock Granite implants could be adversely impacted.
In November 2018, we introduced our iFuse Bedrock technique, in which spine surgeons place iFuse triangular implants across the sacroiliac joint using a different surgical approach to treat sacroiliac joint dysfunction at the same time they are fusing multiple levels of the spine above and affixing those spinal fusion devices to the pelvis.In April 2019, the FDA cleared promotion of iFuse Bedrock for a broader and more general purpose, to provide additional stability and immobilization of the sacroiliac joint in connection with a thoracolumbar fusion procedure. In June 2022, we also obtained a similar marketing clearance for iFuse TORQ, which can be used in the same Bedrock approach, In May 2022, we introduced iFuse Bedrock Granite, an implant which fuses the sacroiliac joint and attaches to the rods placed in a multi-segment spinal fusion construct, and which is used in substantially similar procedures as the iFuse Bedrock technique. To date, clinical experience with the iFuse Bedrock technique and with iFuse Bedrock Granite is limited and we have yet to publish results from our SILVIA trial of the iFuse Bedrock technique or complete a clinical trial to evaluate the iFuse Bedrock Granite implant. Surgeons do not know if the addition of sacroiliac fusion devices to the implants used to fuse multiple levels of the lumbar spine will result in patient benefit. If surgeons' clinical experience with our implants in these procedures is not positive, or if our clinical trials do not show meaningful benefits to the patients undergoing this procedure, sale of our iFuse implants for this indication could be adversely impacted, which could negatively affect our operations and financial condition.
In February 2021, we launched iFuse TORQ, a line of 3D-printed threaded implants designed for applications in pelvic trauma and sacroliliac fusion. In June 2022, the FDA provided clearance for an expanded indication for iFuse TORQ to include acute, non-acute and non-traumatic fractures as well as for placement across the sacroiliac joint using our Bedrock technique. In August 2024, we received FDA clearance for the iFuse TORQ TNT with indication for fracture fixation of the pelvis and sacroiliac joint fusion. Clinical experience with iFuse TORQ is limited and we have yet to publish results from SAFFRON, our clinical trial to evaluate the use of iFuse TORQ in patients with sacral fragility or insufficiency fractures. Physicians do not yet know if pelvic fracture fixation and sacroiliac joint fusion using iFuse TORQ is superior to nonsurgical management in this class of patients. If physicians' clinical experience with our implants in these procedures is not positive, or if our clinical trials do not show meaningful benefits to the patients undergoing this procedure, sale of our iFuse implants for this indication could be adversely impacted, which could negatively affect our operations and financial condition.