WishBone Medical Acquires Indiana-Based Spinal Systems Company

WishBone Medical has purchased CSpine Inc., an Indiana-based company that designs, develops and manufactures spine and orthopedic implants and instruments. As WishBone’s third strategic, vertically-integrated acquisition announcement made in the past six months, CSpine provides the capabilities to enter a key market segment within pediatric orthopedics to address the unmet needs of children with spinal deformities.
 
While this opportune partnership is recent, WishBone and CSpine executives share academic ties dating back to 1995. With over 100 years of combined expertise in medical device engineering, development and manufacturing, CSpine boasts a manufacturing platform with quality standards. A history dense in clinical testing and data will prove invaluable as WishBone Medical enters the global spine arena. This year alone, over 29,000 adolescents with scoliosis will be surgically treated in the United States (WJO 2015).
 
“CSpine extends the concept of Design for Manufacturability to an advanced product development model by leveraging concurrent engineering principles to produce the highest quality products, at the lowest cost, in approximately one-third of the time compared to leading orthopedic device companies,” said Dr. Robert Wertz, vice president of Market Development at WishBone Medical.
 
As WishBone Medical continues to grow through its acquisition strategy, CSpine is the perfect addition to the WishBone lineup. CSpine provides the full continuum of services from concept to commercialization for orthopedic and spinal device companies, including U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory submission, mechanical testing referral/oversight, and various engineering and design functions such as functional relationship analysis (FRA). Vertical integration also renders a streamlined production process— CSpine will make implants onsite to be combined and sterile packed with disposable instruments at Red Star Contract Manufacturing, which is ISO certified. Moving forward, CSpine will operate under the new name of Red Star Medical Solutions, as part of the Red Star family. All Red Star facilities will continue to provide contract manufacturing for the medical device industry.

The ultimate objective is to produce highly innovative surgical solutions for pediatric spinal deformities, to be packaged in sterile, single-use disposable kits—unlike any other spine system existing to date. The WishBone scoliosis kits, based on years of clinical history from CSpine, will prove to be an essential solution on mission trips made worldwide by The WishBone Orthopaedic Foundation.
 
“Our foundation supporting surgeons could literally throw these kits into their backpacks and take it with them on missions to remote areas all over the globe. We’ll be able to aid children with severe spine issues who wouldn’t be able to afford treatment otherwise,” said Rob Seewald, corporate chaplain, WishBone Medical Location Selection and Active Chair, WBOF.
 
WishBone Medical is a global pediatric orthopedic company, committed to providing anatomically appropriate innovative implants and instruments in sterile packed, single-use disposable kits, to prevent infection, reduce overall costs for our customers and achieve the best outcomes for children around the world who are still growing. Through recent acquisitions, WishBone Medical now offers 42 pediatric orthopedic product systems with operations in Warsaw, Ind.; Istanbul, Turkey; and Singapore.