Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Reported shutdown at Innovative Spinal Technologies

By Marc Songini

Mansfield-based medical device firm Innovative Spinal Technologies Inc. has apparently ceased operations, according to published reports.

The company, based in the Cabot Business Park, has dismissed its staff and its plant is now vacant, according to a recent article in the Attleboro-based Sun Chronicle newspaper. The Innovative website is not currently accessible, and a call placed to the firm for comment went unanswered.

The firm was launched in 2002 in Texas and was funded by a $6.2 million investment from backers that included General Electric Healthcare Technologies Inc. The company was focused on minimally invasive spine surgery and motion preservation. In 2005, it closed on a $39 million Series B round and relocated to the Boston area. According to the Sun Chronicle, Innovative had also cut a deal with the town of Mansfield to pay reduced local property taxes. After receiving the break, the firm expanded from six employees to 80 workers, the article claimed.

The firm isn’t the only life sciences-medical device company in the Cabot Business Park to shut down in recent months. Last summer, Spherics Inc. filed for bankruptcy after it was unable to raise any funds and auctioned off its equipment.

Spherics was developing systems based on proprietary bioadhesive polymers. These were intended to help drug compounds remain at a target absorptive site as long as needed to succeed. Four years ago, Spherics received a $2.5 million loan from MassDevelopment’s Emerging Technology Fund (ETF), which enabled it to move its headquarters and research operations to Mansfield from Rhode Island.