June 26, 2023

Zavation, a Gemspring Capital Portfolio Company, Acquires CoreLink

WESTPORT, Conn., June 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Zavation Medical Products, LLC (“Zavation”), an innovative designer and manufacturer of spinal implant, interventional spine and biologics products and a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital (“Gemspring”), today announced that it has acquired CoreLink, LLC (“CoreLink”), a leading, vertically-integrated provider of spinal implant and instrumentation systems, from The Stephens Group, LLC. The transaction combines two market-leading businesses that share a common foundation of engineering unique spinal solutions, providing unparalleled service and enhancing the quality of life for patients around the world. Zavation and CoreLink will continue to operate under their respective brands and the combined business will be led by Zavation CEO Jeffrey Johnson, while Jay Bartling, CEO of CoreLink, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Stephens Group will maintain a minority stake in the combined entity. Financial terms were not disclosed.

For over two decades, CoreLink has solidified itself as a leading provider of novel devices and instrumentation for spinal surgery and more recently has established a differentiated product portfolio supporting lateral spine procedures. CoreLink has uniquely leveraged in-house additive manufacturing techniques to launch its proprietary Mimetic Metal® technology which drives improved patient outcomes. At the same time, CoreLink has invested significantly in medical education including development of a state-of-the-art Bioskills facility in St. Louis, Missouri, to meet evolving surgical needs.

The combination of Zavation and CoreLink brings together two highly complementary product portfolios across spine and interventional pain management, geographic footprints and customer bases spanning in-patient and outpatient delivery of care. By joining forces, the businesses have established a high-growth platform of scale for spinal solutions led by a world-class management team and well-positioned to unlock additional opportunities for expansion. The increased scale allows the combined company to continue investing in innovative technologies and offers surgeon and distributor partners more rapid product development and enhanced customer service.

Mr. Johnson commented, “The combination of Zavation and CoreLink brings together two industry-leading businesses with shared values and customer-centric cultures. We remain dedicated to working with our distributor partners to deliver the highest quality spinal solutions for surgeons and patients across the country. I look forward to joining forces with Jay and the CoreLink team to amplify our strengths and leverage our combined resources to offer more life-changing spinal devices.”

Mr. Bartling remarked, “At CoreLink, we’ve solidified our reputation as an innovator of quality orthopedic and spinal devices that have improved the quality of life for countless patients. We are confident this milestone will allow us to continue executing on our mission, while further enhancing our capabilities to best serve our surgeon partners.”

Don Gerne, Managing Director at Gemspring, commented, “Through this transformative combination, Zavation and CoreLink will be able to provide an expanded product suite and enhanced capabilities to remain hyper-responsive to the needs of customers and partners across the country. We share a vision with Jeffrey, Jay and the entire management team to be the partner of choice for best-in-class spinal surgical solutions, and we are confident this step will position the business for long-term growth and continued success.”

About Zavation
Based in Flowood, MS, Zavation designs, engineers, and manufactures a portfolio of spinal hardware and biologics covering key areas including cervical, thoracolumbar, interbody fusion, interventional spine, and minimally invasive surgery. Founded in 2012, Zavation has experienced exceptional growth and created a national network of numerous distributors across the United States. The company has commercialized over 25 product families since inception. Zavation operates a newly constructed 75,000 square foot vertically integrated facility in Flowood, MS. To learn more information about Zavation and the Company’s suite of products, visit www.zavation.com.

About CoreLink
CoreLink, known as The Source for Spine™, internally designs and manufactures more than 99% of its broad portfolio of spinal implant systems. With a unique heritage that combines old-world craftsmanship with state-of-art manufacturing, we collaborate with surgeons to develop and deliver effective surgical solutions and improve the lives of patients. For more information, visit www.corelinksurgical.com

About Gemspring Capital
Gemspring Capital, a Westport, Connecticut-based private equity firm with $3.4 billion of capital under management, provides flexible capital solutions to middle market companies. Gemspring partners with talented management teams and takes a partnership approach to helping drive revenue growth, value creation and sustainable competitive advantages. Target companies have up to $500 million in revenue and are in the aerospace & defense, business services, consumer services, financial and insurance services, healthcare services, industrial services, software and tech-enabled services, or specialty manufacturing sectors. For more information, visit www.gemspring.com.

Contacts
Don Gerne, donald@gemspring.com

SOURCE Gemspring Capital

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August 10, 2022

Zavation releases In-Vitro and In-Vivo Research Summary for its novel “LABYRINTH™”

JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Zavation Medical Products (“Zavation” or the “Company”), an innovative designer and manufacturer of spinal implants, instruments, MIS procedural kits, and biologics headquartered in Flowood, MS, announced the results of its novel LABYRINTH™ technology in an In-Vitro and In-Vivo research project.

Please click the link below for Zavation’s LABYRINTH™ In-Vitro and In-Vivo Research Study:

Zavation releases In-Vitro and In-Vivo Research Summary for its novel LABYRINTH™.

Labyrinth™ In-Vitro and In-Vivo Research Study

LABYRINTH™, features the first available porous endplates integrated through the full cage, setting the new gold standard for interbody cages. In creating the first fully porous PEEK interbody, Zavation has enhanced the benefits of PEEK (reduced stress shielding and artifact-free imaging) with substantially improved wettability and surface tension. In a 21 day in-vitro study, the interbody’s proprietary and patent pending porous structure demonstrated greater pre-osteoblast cell maturation into viable bone cells than standard PEEK, porous titanium, and standard titanium.¹The Labyrinth™ technology possessed higher fusion and quality of fusion grades at 12- and 26-weeks post-op when compared to solid PEEK and proved to obtain new bone formation throughout porous structure.²

Sonny Gill, M.D. stated, “The Zavation Labyrinth cervical interbody allows bony ingrowth THROUGH the interbody instead of only the central window while also incorporating the peripheral structure of the cage. This unique ability adds to the fusion surface area instead of only a spot weld or a bony ongrowth at the bone/interbody margin. The enhanced fusion capability has the potential for reducing nonunions in multiple cervical applications.”

Zavation’s market share and active surgeon base continues to rapidly grow given the Company’s ability to adapt to surgeon/patient needs, consistently upgrade and customize its instruments, and engineer devices with incomparable simplicity, precision, and disruptive technology. The LABYRINTH™ is just another example of Zavation’s sustained investment in research and development furthering its full line of titanium and PEEK static and expanding interbody technologies.

“The LABYRINTH™ demonstrates our commitment to resetting market standards by creating best-in-class products. As a first-to-market product, this fully porous cage highlights our dedication to R&D and the strength of our product development team,” said Jeffrey Johnson, Chief Executive Officer. “With fusion of critical importance, our mission in designing the LABYRINTH™ was to outperform all materials in fusion, which broadens surgeon appeal. Zavation, with our market leading customer service, has become a house for innovation centered on the needs of our surgeons and distributors.”

ABOUT ZAVATION MEDICAL PRODUCTS
Based in Flowood, MS, Zavation designs, engineers, and manufactures a portfolio of spinal hardware and biologics covering key areas including cervical, thoracolumbar, interbody fusion, interventional spine, and minimally invasive surgery. Founded in 2012, Zavation has experienced exceptional growth and created a national network of numerous distributors across the United States. The Company has commercialized over 25 product families since inception. Zavation operates a newly constructed 75,000 square foot vertically integrated facility in Flowood, MS. To learn more information about Zavation and the Company’s suite of products, visit www.zavation.com.

¹ Nobles K. P., Pal P., Janorkar A., Williamson R. Evaluation of the Pre-Osteoblastic Cell Response on Hydroxyapatite Coated Versus Non-Coated PEEK and Titanium Alloy Surfaces. 2020. Available upon request.

²D. Fredericks, Evaluation of Porous PEEK Interbody Spacer (LABYRINTH) in a Sheep Cervical and Lumbar Interbody Fusion Model. (2022).

SOURCE Zavation Medical Products, LLC.

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LABYRINTH™ Research Study

Labyrinth™ In-Vitro and In-Vivo Research Study

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August 2, 2022

Zavation Medical Products, LLC, receives FDA 510K Clearance for eZspand™ Lateral Cage as an addition to its eZspand™ Interbody System.

FLOWOOD, Miss., June 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Zavation Medical Products (“Zavation” or the “Company”), an innovative designer and manufacturer of high-quality spinal implants, instruments, MIS procedural kits, and biologics headquartered in Flowood, MS, announced the FDA 510K Clearance of eZspand™ Lateral, an expandable lumbar interbody fusion device.

eZspand™ Lateral Cage
Zavation Medical Products, LLC, receives FDA 510K Clearance for eZspand™ Lateral Cage

The eZspand™ Lateral, part of the Zavation eZspand™ Interbody System, features unmatched expandable precision paired with continual expansion to provide an optimized fit for each patient. This optimized fit allows for enhancement of structural stability and improved sagittal balance. eZspand™ Lateral does not require secondary locking, minimizing procedural steps. The cage has up to 15° lordosis and the ability to back fill with bone graft. Each implant expands to 6mm from the insertion height to create a large graft window that facilitates fusion. The benefits of continuous height adjustment, up to 6mm expansion paired with no secondary locking step, separate eZspand™ Lateral from its competitors.

Zavation’s market share and active surgeon base continues to rapidly grow given the Company’s ability to adapt to surgeon/patient needs, consistently upgrade its instruments, and engineer devices with incomparable simplicity and precision. Zavation’s sustained investment in research and development will further enhance its expandable technologies and accelerate market share and active surgeon base gains.

“Our product development team’s dedication to creatively blending simplicity and precision in a robust product design has produced an expandable product that we believe is the new gold standard in facilitating patient fusion in a seamless and simplified procedure,” said Jeffrey Johnson, Chief Executive Officer. “With restoration of alignment being of critical importance, the eZspand™ Lateral was developed to help surgeons address stability and sagittal alignment, while maximizing lordotic correction. This product is an example of Zavation’s commitment to offering innovative and differentiated products in conjunction with market leading customer service to best serve our surgeons and distributor network.”

INDICATIONS FOR USE
The Zavation eZspand™ Interbody System implants are indicated for spinal fusion procedures to be used with autogenous bone graft in skeletally mature patients. The Zavation eZspand™ Interbody System implants are intended for use at either one level or two contiguous levels in the lumbar spine, from L2 to S1, for the treatment of degenerative disc disease (DDD) with up to Grade I spondylolisthesis. DDD is defined as back pain of discogenic origin with degeneration of the disc confirmed by history and radiographic studies. The device is intended to be used in patients who have had six months of non-operative treatment.

The Zavation eZspand™ Interbody System implants are intended to be used with supplemental internal fixation appropriate for the implanted level, including the Zavation Spinal System.

ABOUT ZAVATION MEDICAL PRODUCTS, LLC.
Based in Flowood, MS, Zavation designs, engineers, and manufactures a portfolio of spinal hardware and biologics covering key areas including cervical, thoracolumbar, interbody fusion, interventional spine, and minimally invasive surgery. Founded in 2012, Zavation has experienced exceptional growth and created a national network of numerous distributors across the United States. The Company has commercialized over 25 product families since inception. Zavation operates a newly constructed 75,000 square foot vertically integrated facility in Flowood, MS. To learn more information about Zavation and the Company’s suite of products, visit www.zavation.com.