Monday, February 23, 2009

Innovative Bankruptcy

Old News is Good News!  Wow!  $75mm in Venture and Private Equity Funding.  Where have all the dollars gone, long time passing?  Has the demise of IST surprised anyone within the Spine Industry?  Probably Not!  Initially an incubator out of the Texas Back Institute, this organization had the clinical fire power (Hochshuler and Zigler) to raise VC Funding.  Along comes Scott Schorer and Dr. Hochshuler offers him the job to be CEO.  Today Hochshuler calls Scott; "The pilot that crashed the plane!"  Wow! There's a guy you would really want to work for.   The Bernie Madoff of Spine Surgeons!  So what happened to $75mm?  So called Industry experts like Robin Young called IST IP emerging technology.  Was this all hype?  IST did have a Pedicle Screw, yet, was it truly emerging technology?  IST had an interbody device, was this emerging technology? Spineblogger would speculate that the Axient Dynamic Stabilization System was going to be the product that would allow the investors to recoup a return on their investment.  Unfortunately, the design was too complicated and the Board and Management Team to short sighted.  The question that Spineblogger wants to know is whether this industry is mismanaged and misguided by the usual suspects?  Your opinion counts, let us know!

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