Injectable products that can alleviate pain and even reverse the disease process are on the horizon for treating degenerative orthopedic and spinal conditions, such as damaged articular joint cartilage and deteriorated spinal discs. With no available long-term treatment options for these conditions short of invasive surgical procedures like joint replacement or spinal fusion, injectable technologies that offer the possibility of being used upstream in the continuum of care are potential billion-dollar market opportunities. In fact, in a post health care reform environment, injectable therapies may prove to be the most cost-effective way for treating many degenerative conditions.

A roundup of recent medtech strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions and financings.

Brief summaries of recent product and company developments in the device industry, including the demise of GE's proposed $8 billion acquisition of Abbott Diagnosticss, the Cytyc/Hologic merger, and Alsius' SPAC merger.

Though the company's founders played a crucial role in the development of the first artificial lumbar disc replacements, LDR has itself always taken a somewhat conrtrarian view toward the promise of lumbar disc replacement. Rather the company is betting on the promise of cervical discs, while rounding out its lumbar line with more traditional fusion approaches.