joimax® Announces Executive Appointments Among Record-Breaking Sales for 2022

KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – joimax®, the German-based market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, has appointed Mr. Maximilian Ries and Mr. Anthony Troncale to new executive positions, effective January 1. The announcement comes among record-breaking sales across Europe, Asia, and the United States in 2022.

Maximilian Ries

Ries took on the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations at joimax®. In this position, based in Germany, he will be responsible for scaling global operations to ensure joimax® continues its exponential growth. Formerly the General Manager, for the past six of his 13-year tenure with joimax®, Ries built out the United States and Latin American markets.

Tony Troncale

Troncale was promoted to General Manager; he was formerly Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at joimax® Inc. Over the past two years, Troncale, in addition to increasing his responsibilities, successfully capitalized on the significant interest in endoscopic techniques to expand US sales operations. He joined joimax® in 2021 bringing 20-years of experience in the spinal device industry where he served in sales and marketing leadership roles at Stryker, K2M, and Synthes Spine. Contributing to the global organization’s continuous strong sales growth was the launch of a new surgical access system, “Tessys® Trans SAP” and the global expansion of the ESPINEA® Education Academy.

Wolfgang Ries

“I am extremely pleased with our 2022 global performance and the significant interest in endoscopic spine surgery,” stated joimax® Founder and CEO Wolfgang Ries. “With Max and Tony in their new roles, our market-leading endoscopic spine technologies, and our anticipated launch of two more new surgical access systems later in 2023, we are well positioned for another very successful year.”

joimax® Experiences Major Growth, Launches TESSYS® TransSAP Endoscopic Surgical System

KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – joimax® is continuing its year-over-year double digit growth. Over the past 9 months, joimax® has grown more than 25% globally and in the United States alone, more than 35%. Among this major spurt, the market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery is launching a new endoscopic surgical system, TESSYS® TransSAP.

“This allows for more extensive foraminal decompression and provides an optimal basis for transforaminal endoscopic fusion”

The company attributes strong growth to their popular workshop and educational program, which is now offered worldwide under the ESPINEA® training academy. To keep momentum, joimax® is releasing the TESSYS® TransSAP — the fourth addition to the TESSYS® family encompassing the standard TESSYS® Std, TESSYS® XT featuring longer reach instruments, and TESSYS® Thx, the optimized version for the thoracic spine.

The system is based on the proven TESSYS® method introduced in 2004. Since then, the technology has been enhanced and can be used for more complex indications, widening the spectrum of disease and vertebral level applications.

joimax® faculty surgeon masters, Dr. Christof Hofstetter and Dr. Ralf Wagner, demonstrate TESSYS® and iLESSYS® to an at capacity crowd during NASS 2022 in Chicago. (Photo: Business Wire)

“The TransSAP method follows an adopted access path to the spine, directly targeting the Superior Articulating Process,” says Dr. Christoph Hofstetter, associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington. “This allows for more extensive foraminal decompression and provides an optimal basis for transforaminal endoscopic fusion,” adds Dr. Ralf Wagner, a longstanding joimax® ESPINEA® Faculty orthopedic surgeon based in Frankfurt.

In addition, joimax® provides a series of implants for fusion indications, such as the percutaneous pedicle screw system, Percusys® Plus, and a family of 3D-printed titanium cages within the EndoLIF® program. The EndoLIF® suite of products consists of the static implants O/On-Cage, Delta-Cage and DoubleWedge-Cage. “There are plans to add a new fully-expandable cage, as well as a navigated solution for endoscopic disc preparation and implant positioning to provide a full endoscopic assisted fusion platform,” says Wolfgang Ries, CEO and founder of joimax®.

All joimax® implants can be safely inserted using the “Over-the-Wire” technique for precise implantation, making them ideal for endoscopically-assisted fusion procedures established and protected by joimax®.

These new products have been exhibited at the following trade shows: SMISS in Las Vegas, CNS in San Francisco, and NASS in Chicago, and will be featured at EUROSPINE in Milan and at the German Spine Congress, DWG, in Berlin later this year.

joimax®announces major spike in attendance at its ESPINEA® workshops, reports record revenues

Karlsruhe (GER) — German-based joimax®, the market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, is excited to announce a major spike in attendance at its Endoscopic Spine Academy (ESPINEA®) workshops, which contributes to sustainable growth after another year of record revenues in 2021.

The growing interest can be attributed to increased coverage in literature and publications as cited on PubMed®. Moreover, the joimax®-initiated workshop program, now under the umbrella of ESPINEA®, offers optimal training for a variety of applications and procedures, making it attractive to a broader audience. 

joimax® established ESPINEA® three years ago. In Fall 2020, the Endoscopic Spine Academy was accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSEd). It is one of only four Accreditation Centers that meet its strict rigorous internal quality assurance processes. Together, with its growing team of faculty, joimax® developed the complete six-step curriculum to bridge the learning curve for spine surgeons. The curriculum, which was approved by the RCSEd, is developed as an educational program from beginners to masters alike.

J.N. Alastair Gibson DSc MD FRCSEd, a RCSEd and ESPINEA® Advisory Board Member sums it up: “The ESPINEA® mission is to serve endoscopic spine surgeons by providing a growing global network for lifelong learning to best benefit the patient. Our vision is to be the world’s leading interdisciplinary community in endoscopic spine surgery.”

In addition to holding ESPINEA® courses at the joimax®-owned premises in Karlsruhe (Germany) and Irvine (USA), they are also held at ORSI Academy (Belgium) and at other prestigious universities, such as Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg (Austria). Recently, ESPINEA® was rolled out in Thailand. Prior to the July PASMISS Meeting, the courses will be launched in Singapore for the APAC region, and following the October SMISS Meeting, launched widely in the U.S.

“Given the ongoing development of endoscopic spine surgery with more and more technological options, the benefits for the patients, along with the substantial publication, I am convinced that endoscopic spine surgery is now the gold standard,” states Iprenburg Spine Clinic Founder and ESPINEA® Advisory Board Member Dr. Menno Iprenburg.

With the ESPINEA® courses, surgeons can train on different procedures using the joimax® TESSYS®, iLESSYS®, CESSYS®, MultiZYTE®, EndoLIF®, Percusys® based on the latest NAVENTO® tower. Most of the courses are conducted in a hybrid mode — online and on-site presentations and lectures combined with in-person hands-on training using models, simulators and anatomical specimens.

ESPINEA® was established as an open education platform for other players in the field of spinal surgery as well. Therefore, further supporters have already joined and new entrants are welcomed.

joimax® starts the official sale of its EndoLIF® Delta and DoubleWedge cages. All three members of EndoLIF® family CE approved.

Karlsruhe, GER– July 15, 2019 –joimax®, the Germany-based market leader of technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic minimally-invasive spinal surgery, announces the official sales launch of its complete EndoLIF® family. EndoLIF® is an instrument set for endoscopic-assisted minimally invasive lumbar interbody fusion. As already announced and showcased at earlier events, the EndoLIF® product line consists of three members now: the well-known EndoLIF® O/On-Cage, the EndoLIF® Delta Cage, and the latest EndoLIF® Double Wedge Cage. The complete EndoLIF® product family is now CE-approved and fully available. Moreover, the EndoLIF® O/On-Cage is FDA-approved.

All EndoLIF® Implants are manufactured using a 3D printing process, which ensures an open diamond cell structure. The cages are safely implanted via the guide wire and are fillable with bone or bone substitute material. With their rough and porous surface, the implants guarantee optimal bone ingrowth, stability and finally fusion.

The EndoLIF® Cage family provides the right implant for every patient and is the perfect solution for endoscopic spinal fusion. With the gentle and atraumatic access via gradual tissue dilatation, muscles remain intact leaving important biomechanical structures in place after surgery.

Like with any endoscopic procedure compared to open surgery, all advantages for fusion are now given with the EndoLIF® program also. With one EndoLIF® Instrument Set all three cages of the EndoLIF® family can be implemented.

Dr. Florian Zentz, (Munich, GER) emphasizes “the extraordinarily high primary stability of the EndoLIF® DoubleWedge-Cage”. He continues enthusiastically: “After insertion the cage sits very firmly in the intervertebral disc space and adjusts the angulation up to 18 degrees, almost directly enabling an optimal lordosis correction.”

Dr. Ralf Wagner, (Frankfurt, GER) is also convinced of the obvious advantages: “The Delta Cage is ideal for the posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) offering a gentle posterior alternative, especially at level L5-S1 with its large interlaminar window.

joimax® shows again strong growth trend in 2016 and gets issued next new patents holding now more than 150 patents and trademarks worldwide

Karlsruhe, Germany – January 17th, 2017 – the German based market leader of technologies and training methods for endoscopic minimally invasive spinal surgery joimax® announces again very satisfying growing sales figures. Record sales in 2016 are representing another 31% growth vs. 2015. This is in line with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2007 – 2016 of around 32%. Projections into 2017 show even accelerated growth due to the worldwide increasing adoption rate of the joimax® procedures.

joimax® is active in 45 countries by now and meanwhile enjoys a strong reputation in Europe and also in Asia which will now spread out into the US-market as well. “The entry in force of the CPT 2017 reimbursement Codebook (Current Procedural Terminology) as of January 1st, 2017, is a milestone towards the full acceptance of endoscopic minimally invasive spine surgery techniques. The codebook now contains the first endoscopic spinal surgery code, under which the specific transforaminal (TESSYS®) and/or interlaminar (iLESSYS®) procedures marketed by joimax® are now eligible in the USA and this will further contribute to fully increase sales in the US as well” states Wolfgang Ries, Founder and CEO of joimax®.

joimax® technologies are based on worldwide intellectual property and the company holds now more than 150 patents and trademarks. Only in 2016 18 patents and patent publications were issued to joimax®. The latest one is Patent No. EP 2 983 622 for the EndoLIF® Cage, which has been introduced to offer a minimally invasive as well as open (TLIF) alternative for fusion in the lumbar spine as an optimal treatment option for surgeons.

The company is busy on inventing and innovating next minimally invasive systems with regards to newer implants based on the EndoLIF® technology but also decompression methods based on its endoscopic systems. This will now be completed with Intracs®, the new Interaoperative Navigation Tracking & Control System with which joimax® instruments can be navigated directly at the tip. The Intracs® Navigation and Monitor Unit is integrated in the joimax® Endoscopic Tower and all necessary tools are tailored for the TESSYS® (transforaminal) and iLESSYS® (interlaminar) procedures as well as for minimally invasive stabilization procedures, like EndoLIF® (Lumbar Interbody Fusion) and Percusys® (Percutaneous Screw-Rod Stabilization).

joimax® STUDIES PUBLISHED IN WORLD NEUROSURGERY TESSYS® system proves to be surgical rescue solution for kyphoplasty complication and thoracic disc herniation.

Irvine, Germany, September 14th, 2016 – joimax®, the expert in endoscopic minimally invasive spine surgery, is pleased to announce another publication on its technologies to be released in World Neurosurgery (2016). In the paper called “Transpedicular Lumbar Endoscopic Surgery for Highly Migrated Disc Extrusions, a preliminary series and surgical technique,” published by Krzok G et al, 21 patients underwent this procedure with the TESSYS® system. The paper follows two technical notes by Wagner R et al in which he shows joimax® techniques as surgical rescue solutions in a kyphoplasty complication and another one for the treatment of a thoracic disc herniation, all published in World Neurosurgery.

The first technical note mentioned above describes the case of a 72-year-old woman with a leakage of the kyphoplasty cement into the spinal canal (a described and known complication), where the joimax® technology was successfully used as a rescue solution to remove the cement and decompress the nerval structures preventing major surgery. The second technical note describes the transforaminal endoscopic foraminoplasty and discectomy for the treatment of a thoracic disc herniation. A 31-year-old woman with severe thoracic back pain over one year was successfully treated by using the transforaminal endoscopic approach so that open surgery was not needed.

Over the years a growing number of studies show the outstanding advantages of endoscopic minimally invasive spinal surgery, such as the prospective Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of Ruetten et al in 178 patients and by Hoogland et al in a study of 262 consecutive cases of transforaminal endoscopic spinal surgery. Both were published in Spine 2008, Vol. 33, Issue 9. Another retrospective evaluation with 195 patients of Jasper et al (Clinical Neurology & Neurosurgery 2013, Vol. 115, Issue 10) and a multi-centric MIS prospective registry published by Sclafani et al (IJSS 2015, Vol. 9, Art. 69) with 86 patients, also showed very encouraging results. Beyond that, a special edition in the Journal of Neurosurgery called Neurosurgical Focus, published by Gokaslan Z, Telfeian A and Wang M focused on Endoscopic Spine Surgery was released in February 2016 (JNS 2016, Vol. 40, No. 2).

“Working with Endoscopic Spine Surgery for more than 12 years (her performed already 2,400 Tessys® procedures in daysurgery in analgo-sedation) and seeing its evolution is just amazing and I wonder where we will be in five or ten years from now”, says Menno Iprenburg, MD from Veenhuizen, NL, who continues to be involved in many of these studies.

Albert Telfeian, MD, PhD from Brown University, RI is very happy about the actual hit rate on PubMed when searching for endoscopic spinal surgery, “To date we’ve received a rate of 2,730 papers on http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=endoscopic+spinal+surgery and I am really excited how many indications are treatable with endoscopy already today,” said Telfeian.

“Shortly another RCT study will be published by Gibson et al demonstrating the quality and great success rate of endoscopic spine treatments with a high adoption rate, especially in Asian countries, and in some countries where there is more than 50% growth per annum”, says Wolfgang Ries, founder and CEO of joimax®.

joimax Receives 510(k) Clearance for Percusys Pedicle Screw-Rod System

IRVINE, Calif., March 4, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The German company joimax®, developer of technologies and training methods for minimally invasive endoscopic spinal surgery, today announced it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its Percusys® percutaneous pedicle screw-rod system.

The patented Percusys system is a multi-functional implant for use during spinal stabilization procedures. Its unique screw and instrument design enables a safer and more effective surgical technique with minimal steps for the surgeon. The single, small instrument set allows flexibility to perform surgery through a percutaneous, minimally invasive or open approach.

“During development, the main focus was on the ease-of-use of the system,” says Dr. Frank Hassel, specialist for spine surgery from Freiburg, Germany, who was instrumental to the Percusys development. “The idea was to reduce the complexity in instrumentation and simplify stabilization procedures to minimize the potential damage of soft tissues and improve overall patient outcomes.”

Percusys implants comprise single packaged, sterile, and pre-assembled pedicle screws with lengthening shaft and set-screw. All screws are color coded according to their diameter, cannulated, fenestrated, self-cutting and self-drilling. Each surgical step is carried out using the lengthening shaft, which is tightly connected to the tulip. The assembly allows for direct manipulation and does not require additional instrumentation. Shearing off the lengthening shaft can be done by a 360-degree rotation of the shaft breaker.

Percusyscan be usedin combination with the joimax® EndoLIF® O-Cage. “This offers an optimal solution for minimally invasive, endoscopic-assisted access to the intervertebral disc,” says Wolfgang Ries, CEO and founder of joimax. “Percusys® represents the next logical step in the development of endoscopic surgery and further strengthens the joimax position as an expert in this special market segment.”