Highridge Medical CEO Whitney On Accelus Buys And Spine Strategy
Private Company Deepens Commitment To Minimally Invasive Lumbar Spine
September 3, 2025 – Privately-owned spine specialist Highridge Medical has added three products to its portfolio following the acquisition of expandable spinal implant technologies from Accelus Medical for an undisclosed sum.
The FlareHawk and Toro expandable interbody fusion systems, and LineSider pedicle screw system, are the new additions to the spine solutions offered by Highridge Medical. The company was formed in April 2024 after its parent HIG Capital bought the bone healing (EBI range) and spine portfolios from ZimVie.
The acquired Accelus products were designed to preserve patient anatomy, enhance procedural efficiency and promote long-term spinal stability. The trio deepens the Westminster, CO company’s commitment to innovative minimally invasive lumbar spine solutions, Highridge Medical CEO Rebecca Whitney said.
Highridge Medical is addressing a growing $10bn market with a strategy of growth by innovation and doubling its investment in R&D. Internally developed spine technologies, like the Mobi-C cervical disc and Tether vertebral body tethering system, are among Highridge’s legacy flagship brands.
The Accelus purchase comes shortly after Highridge’s second quarter disposal of the EBI bone healing business (electrical bone growth stimulation therapies for spine, orthopedics and podiatric patients) to Avista Healthcare Partners.
That transaction allowed Highridge to focus exclusively on spine, which was always part of the strategy, Whitney said. The proceeds of the EBI sale will be used to drive innovation in spine. “Strategically it makes a lot of sense and [EBI] will thrive as a standalone entity,” the CEO said.
Two Deals This Summer
The Accelus range is Highridge’s second foray into the M&A and deals market. The first was in June 2025 when the company acquired US rights to B Braun Aesculap’s activL lumbar disc. That will be rolled out in December to strengthen Highridge’s position in the motion preservation market, where it will sit alongside Mobi-C.
Highridge Medical has also gained access to Accelus’ proprietary Adaptive Geometry implant design. This is the concept that powers the expandable interbody fusion systems, enhances stability and promotes fusion while minimizing neural retraction. It potentially reduces complications, such as subsidence.
Speaking to Medtech Insight, Whitney, who joined Biomet 11 years ago and has stayed with its legacy spine business over the years – via the Zimmer Biomet merger (2015), the spin off of ZimVie (2022) and now under HIG Capital ownership – said the Accelus products were targeted after a horizon scan. “We knew we had a portfolio gap and needed an expandable cage,” she said.
Highridge, she said, has greater scale through its commercial distribution channels and some 400 sales reps in the US alone, and can bring the trio of products to a wider market. Whereas Highridge will be able to cover the whole US, Accelus sold to 21 states in the east and southeast only.
In addition, having a larger suite of solutions helps open doors in talks with hospital and surgerycenter contractors, who are increasingly looking to deal with fewer, larger vendors. Highridge’s portfolio of technologies are targeted at both the hospital and ambulatory surgery center (ASC) settings.
Acquired Accelus Products
FlareHawk implants have a poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) shell, a titanium surface technology embedded into the shell substrate and an internal titanium shim. A small insertion profile minimizes neural retraction during placement. The implants have multidirectional expansion in height, width and lordosis.
The US Food and Drug Administration 510k-cleared and CE-marked product has been designed toreduce the risk of subsidence, restore foraminal height and re-establish sagittal balance. In June, theFlareHawk Interbody Fusion System additionally received 510k clearance to be used during MRIscanning in certain conditions.
Highridge will start FlareHawk in the US market, “where most of the opportunity is,” and later selectother markets that make the most geographic sense, Whitney said. Japan, Highridge’s secondlargest market, is being studied in terms of the commercial pathway.
Toro-L interbody fusion system implant has a 14mm insertion profile expanding to the implant’s fullwidth of either 21mm or 24mm before further expanding to the surgeon’s desired height of up to16mm. It has 3D-printed endplates with roughened surfaces where the implant interfaces with bonedue to the additive manufacturing process. The LineSider Spinal System has modular corticalscrews.
Three-Part Market Focus
All three products fit into the minimally invasive surgery (MIS) segment of the spine market, which is growing rapidly. They are a “perfect solution” for the ASC market, Whitney said. MIS is one of Highridge’s three market focuses, along with complex spine and motion preservation.
Complex spine includes trauma and deformity, while motion preservation includes disc replacement (where Mobi-C and activL play). MIS and complex spine are large and relatively well developed businesses that have room to grow. Highridge will further seek to develop new MIS procedure solutions based on the acquired Accelus technologies.
Motion preservation offers the biggest opportunity for market creation, Whitney said. “Too many patients are still being fused, so there is tremendous growth potential through converting patients to less restrictive options.”
Positioned For Growth
On launching Highridge Medical, HIG said it had followed the spine market closely for many years, and believed its R&D pipeline and anticipated strategic acquisitions positioned it to succeed in the market.
Highridge has a headcount of some 500 staff in addition to its contracted US sales reps. “We like to say we’re the largest start-up in spine,” Whitney said.
Highridge is also one of the top two privately held spine companies globally, along with VB Spine, the spinal implants business set up by Viscogliosi Brothers after acquiring Stryker’s spine business in April 2025.
“The privately held nature of Highridge makes it easier for us to do deals,” Whitney said. “This is not a ‘one or two M&A solution’ and then we’re done – we intend to make this part of our DNA.”
More M&A is anticipated from Highridge, perhaps even before the end of 2025.