A US$ 250 million Play for 800+ Spinal Stimulation Patents
Globus Medical announced its US$ 250 million acquisition of Nevro on February 6, 2025, gaining control of 800+ spinal cord stimulation (SCS) patents.
This acquisition expands Globus' neuromodulation patent portfolio and strengthens its position in the US$13.3 billion spinal device market. Market that is forecast to grow at around 5.4% CAGR, and reach US$ 21.4 billion by 2032 1. Globus Medical key competitors in this space include Medtronic, Stryker Corporation, and Zimmer Biomet.
In terms of financial performance:
- Globus Medical announced preliminary 2024 net sales of US$2.52 billion, an increase of 60.6% over prior year
- Nevro announced preliminary 2024 worldwide revenue of US$408 million to US$409 million
Company Profiles:
Globus Medical, Inc., based in Audubon, Pennsylvania, is a leading global musculoskeletal company dedicated to solving unmet clinical needs and changing lives. We innovate with inspired urgency, provide world-class education and clinical support, and advance care throughout spine, orthopedic trauma, joint reconstruction, biomaterials and enabling technologies.
Source: www.globusmedical.com.
Nevro Corp., headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a global medical device company focused on delivering comprehensive, life-changing solutions that continue to set the standard for enduring patient outcomes in the treatment of chronic pain. Nevro’s comprehensive HFX™ spinal cord stimulation (SCS) platform includes the Senza® SCS system and support services for the treatment of chronic pain of the trunk and limb and painful diabetic neuropathy. Nevro also provides minimally invasive treatment options for patients suffering from chronic sacroiliac joint pain.
Source: www.nevro.com.
Globus Medical returns to Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)
Examination of Globus Medical's patent portfolio of more than 5,790 published patents across 961 patent families reveals only a few patents related to SCS innovations. These have a title of "Implantable pulse generator that generates spinal cord stimulation signals for a human body."
While reviewing these patents, I noticed some listed Cirtec Medical as an assignee. This raised my interest, and prompted me to explore a little more.
Further investigation on the EPO register seems to suggest these patents were reassigned to Cirtec Medical around 2018. No reasons found why this occurred.
Checking Globus Medical's product page on their website and there are no SCS products on offer, unlike Cirtec Medical who offer SCS products.
Given the absence of SCS currently offered by Globus Medical I would assume they sold all rights to this technology to Cirtec Medical.
Globus's acquisition of Nevro now signals a strategic re-entry into the SCS market, reinforcing pain management as a complementary offering in Globus Medical’s product line-up.
Globus Medical’s Strategic Vision
Dan Scavilla, President and CEO of Globus Medical, emphasised the strategic importance of this acquisition:
“This transaction furthers our mission to become the preeminent musculoskeletal technology company in the world by enabling us to expand into new markets for future growth, while gaining access to world-class, differentiated technologies that can provide significant benefit in neuromodulation, enabling technologies, and future implant solutions.
We believe our size and operational capabilities will accelerate market penetration of Nevro’s technology and bring much needed and clinically superior relief to patients suffering from chronic pain”
Acquiring 800+ of SCS patents, many filed since 2018
Let's take a look at Nevro's IP to see what Globus Medical is getting for their
US$ 250 million acquisition.
Since 2009 Nevro have published more than 800 patents across 89 patent families. In total they have received 280 issued patent and filed 524 applications.
We can see that the number of patent applications has steadily declined year-on-year. In contrast we see the number of granted patents has been fairly constant over the same time period.
The majority of the published patents were filed in the US and account for about 50% of the total
The majority of the published patents were US accounting for about 50% of the total. Australia and Europe were 167 and 111 respectively, accounting for about 35%. So collectively US, AU and EP account for 85% of all published patents filed by Nevro. Suggesting these are their main markets for commercialising the products. I say this for the simple reason companies only file patents in countries where they see significant revenue opportunity.