Medovex Retains Spine Surgeon as Consultant to Medical Advisory Board

Atlanta, Ga.-based Medovex Corp. has recruited European spine surgeon Karsten Ritter-Lang, M.D., as a medical advisory board consultant.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ritter-Lang will leverage his expertise, experience and relationships in the spine treatment space, specifically the facet joint pain area by advising Medovex on matters related to its technology and the area of facet joint pain therapies. He will also provide services to help introduce the Medovex’s Denervex system to other physicians and medical professionals.

The company’s Denervex system is intended to treat facet joint syndrome (FJS), a condition in which the joints in the back of the spine degenerate and subsequently cause pain. Lower back pain is the second most common cause of disability in the United States for adults. Studies indicate that 10 percent of the U.S. adult population suffers from lower back pain and that 31 percent of lower back pain is attributed to FJS pain.

The Denervex system consists of the Denervex device, a single use medical device and the Denervex Pro-40 power generator, both designed to be less invasive with faster recovery time than current surgical treatment options. It consists of two procedures combined into one device and is expected to provide for a longer lasting treatment solution while possibly offering potential savings to the health care system. Denervex is not yet commercially available.

Following his medical studies at The Humboldt University in Berlin, Ritter-Lang worked for the inventors of the first artificial disc replacement, Katrin Buttner-Janz and Kurt Schellnack. He has been a specialist in the field of intervertebral disc prosthetics, especially in the field of abdominal approach surgery, for more than 20 years. Ritter-Lang has performed almost 7,000 surgeries, of which 4,798 were spinal column reconstructions and has done over 3,500 disc replacement procedures using a wide range of implants both cervical and lumbar.

Ritter-Lang is a respected speaker worldwide at symposiums about orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery regarding treatment using artificial intervertebral discs. His participation in the ongoing development of intervertebral disc prosthetics technology, prototypes, and implants, provides great benefits to the patients he treats. Patients come from all over the world to be treated by Ritter-Lang and his highly qualified team. He is among an elite group of the most experienced disc replacement surgeons in the world, and has dedicated his career to the sub-specialty of disc replacement.

“We are very pleased that Dr. Ritter-Lang has made the decision to accept our invitation to be a part of the Denervex system medical advisory board,” said Manfred Sablowski, Medovex senior vice president of sales and marketing. “We intend to leverage both Dr. Ritter-Lang’s expertise and experience as one of Europe’s top spine surgeons.”

“We expect his deep knowledge of the space will prove invaluable for our European launch of the Denervex system,” said Patrick Kullmann, president and chief operating officer. “This addition to the advisory board along with others that will follow, coupled with our quickly emerging distribution strategy, are expected to create a powerful launch preparation and sustainment for the Medovex Denervex system in the European Union.”





Medovex was formed to acquire and develop a diversified portfolio of potentially ground breaking medical technology products. Criteria for selection include those products with potential for significant improvement in the quality of patient care combined with cost effectiveness. The Denervex device is the company’s first pipeline product.