Vertos Medical Inc. is moving to a bigger headquarters within Aliso Viejo later this year as it bolsters training for surgeons and plans to hire.
The company, which makes devices to treat spinal disease, is set to shift from its current offices at 11 Columbia to 101 Enterprise, said James Corbett, the company’s chief executive.
The move includes manufacturing and a training center for surgeons who use Vertos’ sets of devices dubbed mild—short for minimally invasive lumbar decompression.
The sets are used to treat lumbar spinal stenosis, or narrowing of the spinal canal, without major surgery.
“We’re moving from about 10,000 to 25,000 square feet,” Corbett said. “We’re going to greatly expand our (doctor) training.”
The company plans to train 100 doctors a month, up from 25 to 30 a month now, he said.
Vertos signed a five-year lease for undisclosed financial terms and expects to be in its new building by the fourth quarter, Corbett said.
The offices previously were occupied by Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., a drug maker that is moving its headquarters elsewhere in Aliso Viejo.
As part of the expansion, Vertos plans to double its number of employees by mid-2012, said Corbett, who declined to give a total number of workers.
The company was founded in 2005 and has raised $40 million in venture capital.
Backers include Foundation Medical Partners of Rowayton, Conn.; Stamford, Conn.-based CHL Medical Partners, Aweida Venture Partners of Superior, Colo., and Houston’s DFJ Mercury.
Corbett declined to give a revenue estimate for Vertos. He said he expects it to be near profitability next year.
Growth
The company is seeing growth in the use of mild—the number of procedures has gone from 500 in 2009 to between 7,500 and 10,000 projected for this year, according to Corbett. He said the growth has come primarily from trained doctors doing more procedures.
“We have not expanded our sales force meaningfully,” he said.
More than 1 million patients have spinal stenosis each year, according to the company.
The potential of the market has Vertos aiming to remain independent rather than being sold to a larger device maker.
“We haven’t really thought about that,” Corbett said. “We’re thinking about building a company.”
The company is investing in clinical research to develop other therapies.
Research on the procedure for mild is important to Vertos, according to Corbett.
“In today’s medicine, evidence is absolutely critical to the adoption of a new therapy,” Corbett said.
Study Boost
The recent publication of a one-year, peer-reviewed study on mild published in academic journal Pain Practice helped.
“Getting that one-year data is really a critical milestone,” Corbett said.
Vertos also has gotten kudos for its scientific work at various meetings, including the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the American Academy of Pain Medicine.
The company also recently got a go-ahead on reimbursements specifically for mild from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Corbett came to Vertos nearly three years ago after a stint as chief executive of Ev3 Inc., a Minnesota maker of devices for treating arterial disease with about 300 workers in Irvine.
Ev3 is now a unit of medical conglomerate Covidien Ltd., which is based in Bermuda and operates out of Massachusetts.
Vertos moved to Aliso Viejo from San Jose two years ago as it was readying mild for market.
“My intent upon joining the company was to grow it commercially,” Corbett said in an earlier interview. “I thought that Orange County would be more stable and (a better) area to build the company out.”
