First Patient Implant in M6-C Artificial Cervical Disc Two-Level Study

Orthofix Medical Inc., a global medical device company with a spine and orthopedics focus, today announced the first patient implant in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clinical study that will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the M6-C artificial cervical disc compared to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for the treatment of contiguous two-level symptomatic cervical radiculopathy.
 
“Artificial cervical disc replacement is rapidly becoming the standard of care for patients suffering from degenerative cervical disc disease because it preserves motion, unlike ACDF procedures,” said Dr. Todd Lanman, a spinal neurosurgeon with Beverly Hills-based Lanman Spinal Neurosurgery and founder of the national ADR Advanced Disc Replacement Spinal Restoration Center who performed the first patient implant in the study. “The M6-C artificial cervical disc two-level study will provide additional data to validate the effectiveness of disc replacement over fusion in patients suffering from degeneration in two contiguous levels.” 
 
Being conducted under a U.S. Investigational Device Exemption (IDE), the study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the M6-C artificial cervical disc compared to ACDF for the treatment of contiguous two-level symptomatic cervical radiculopathy at vertebral levels from C3 to C7 with or without spinal cord compression.
 
Patients will be concurrently enrolled in the M6-C treatment group and the ACDF control group. For the study, 263 patients will undergo either a two-level cervical artificial disc procedure or an instrumented ACDF procedure as per site group assignment. Patients will be evaluated clinically, radiographically, and via the collection of patient-reported outcomes at six weeks, three months, six months, 12 months and 24 months. The primary endpoint is overall success at 24 months.
 
“To date there have been more than 55,000 implantations worldwide of the M6-C artificial cervical disc,” said Orthofix President of Global Spine Kevin Kenny. “We are excited to begin this study as it supports our commitment to continue to build upon the global body of evidence supporting the use of the M6-C artificial cervical disc as a safe and effectivetreatment for patients suffering from the debilitating pain of degenerative disc disease.”
 
The M6-C artificial cervical disc was FDA-approved for single-level implantation from C3 to C7 in 2019. Designed to restore physiologic motion to the spine, the M6-C disc is indicated as an alternative to cervical fusion. The M6-C disc preserves motion by restoring biomechanical function at the treated level after native disc removal and potentially reduces subsequent degeneration of adjacent vertebral segments. The M6-C device is the only artificial cervical disc that mimics the anatomic structure of a natural disc by incorporating an artificial visco-elastic nucleus and fiber annulus into its design. Like a natural disc, this unique construct allows for shock absorption at the implanted level, as well as provides a controlled range of motion when the spine transitions in its combined complex movements.