Dan Grayson

Winston-Salem, NC (USA)
Role(s):
C-Level Executive (CEO, CFO, etc.)

VG Innovations, LLC

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Location: Winston-Salem
Industry: Healthcare
Year Founded: 2007
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Description: Millennium Research Group (MRG) just recognized VG Innovations, LLC as the top emerging company in the spinal facet fusion market space. The space was estimated to be worth $39 million in 2007. However, MRG has estimated this market space to be worth almost $400 million by 2012. VG Innovations, LLC is poised to capture a vast majority of that space with its revolutionary new spine stabilization system, VerteLoc™. VG Innovations, LLC is focused on using our industry knowledge and creative thinking to develop and commercialize a broad range of advanced, high-performance and minimally invasive spinal implants. We have developed our first product, VerteLoc™, to overcome the limitations of currently available implants for spinal facet fusion. We believe VerteLoc™ will represent the first viable product that should eventually receive coding for an outpatient spinal fusion. We also believe that VerteLoc™ can successfully address low back pain caused by facet osteoarthritis, which would be yet another possible outpatient procedure and targeted for use by orthopedic and neuro spine surgeons and interventional radiologists. Based on these potential advantages, VerteLoc™ candidates may achieve better long-term clinical outcomes with enhanced durability, longevity, biocompatibility and patient fit. VerteLoc™ should prolong or prevent instrumented spine fusions if used earlier in the continuum of spinal care. VerteLoc™ can be manufactured from allograft (human tissue), titanium and polyetheretherketone (PEEK). The allograft version has been expedited to market as it is exempt from FDA 510K approval, unlike metal or polymer-based spinal implants. Our goal is to establish VerteLoc™ as new standard of care for treatment of minor instabilities and osteoarthritis of the spinal column, especially in earlier intervention in both the surgical and interventional radiology market spaces. We received our Freedom to Operate letter from a reputable patent law firm. That letter also stated that our device, VerteLoc™ could have patentable subject matter in both apparatus and method claims. We plan to introduce additional innovative spinal implants by 2010, subject to regulatory clearance, for the cervical and lumbar spine. VerteLoc™ was actually launched, in a limited release, on May 22, 2008. Our first surgical case was on May 27, 2008. Fifty-five (55) procedures have been performed as of September 30, 2008. Our first clinical follow-up results are positive with fusion noted at 10 weeks post-operative. We are seeking funding to assist in the further development, build-up of inventory and hiring of additional employees to quickly expand the distribution of VerteLoc. Our Proforma indicates that VerteLoc™ should be a $100 million product by 2013.