For much of the past decade, the spinal device market has, in competitive terms, been characterized by two dynamics: first, a rapidly expanding market driven at least in part by a host of new technologies produced by an equally large number of new companies, many of them venture-backed start-ups, and second, a continued dominance, at least in terms of market share, by the industry leaders, most notably Medtronic Sofamor Danek USA Inc. (MSD), a unit of Medtronic PLC, a dominance all the more remarkable considering the volatility that a fast-growing, technology-rich market usually brings.
The long-standing market dominance of the industry leaders did little to dampen the spirits of the companies who were creating...
