(By Balaseshan) NuVasive Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) said it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pre-market approval (PMA) for the PCM Cervical Disc System.
The PCM Cervical Disc is indicated for use in skeletally mature patients for reconstruction of a degenerated cervical disc at one level from C3-C4 to C6-C7 following single level discectomy for intractable radiculopathy (arm pain and/or a neurological deficit), with or without neck pain, or myelopathy due to a single-level abnormality localized to the disc space.
The PCM Cervical Disc is composed of cobalt chrome endplates and a central polyethylene core, materials that have a long and well-studied history of use in other orthopedic joint replacements.
The device will be provided to patients and surgeons in the United States as an innovative option to preserve motion in the cervical spine instead of a traditional, motion-eliminating fusion procedure.
The FDA approval comes after successful completion of a prospective, multicenter randomized investigational device exemption (IDE) clinical trial that was conducted at 23 investigational sites across the United States and included 403 total treated patients.
"This device has many design considerations that make it a truly unique product offering compared to other cervical motion preserving devices. Its low-profile design enables it to be minimally disruptive to the adjacent anatomy and a viable treatment option for levels adjacent to prior fusions," said Alex Lukianov, Chief Executive of NuVasive.
NUVA is trading up 1.51% at $14.13 on Friday. The stock has been trading between $11.02 and $25.99 for the past 52 weeks.