Bioventus Bioness Integration Update – June 10, R&D, Product Development and Survey

by Sarah Caley

The integration work continues towards the 90-day time point in July. As noted in the recent update from Phil Stead and the commercial team – securing the first StimRouter order and placement through the collaboration on the PNS/Implantables side of the business was an exciting milestone and we look forward to continued updates on from the Pilot Program.

Here in Valencia, a cross-functional team has been hard at work on PNS planning and development. A kick-off meeting was held for the newly formed TalisMann launch team – a multifunctional group consisting of R&D, engineering, regulatory, quality, ops, market access and marketing. This team is preparing for the anticipated 510(k) clearance of TalisMann and is putting together the launch strategy for early 2022.

In a similar vein, another multidisciplinary team was formed to plan out the development program for the StimTrial lead program. This will be a trial lead to be used as a test/validation step in patients prior to deployment of a permanent StimRouter or TalisMann PNS device. The team presented their comprehensive development plans, costs, timelines and business case to the Stage Gate Committee on Friday and received an enthusiastic green light to move forward into their development program. Exciting news for a very important pipeline project from the Implantables team here in Valencia.

Some (not all) of the Valencia StimTrial team members: L-R Andy Veldkamp, Austin Smith, Brennan Stevenson, Jung Kim, Connor Mosley, Arkady Glukhovsky, Keith McBride and Mark Geiger.

Lastly, we promised to report out on the Integration Survey completed by Valencia employees. As previously mentioned, we received 89 responses which is a fairly significant representation of employees here.  Overall, respondents indicated they feel informed on Integration progress and are able to do their jobs with minimal impact from the ongoing Integration activities. There were some very useful individual comments and questions, and so we will plan to address these either in this regular update or in Town Hall meetings to continue our efforts for transparent and regular communication.

One respondent asked about any planned benefits changes – and we wanted to share the following response form the HR team: “Bioventus’ priority is to provide market competitive benefits for all employees.  Bioness employees will receive their first communication regarding Health and Welfare benefits on Friday, June 11,” said Leigh Ann Stradford, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer.

“Open enrollment for these employees begins on June 14 and ends June 22.    Ambre Wachter, Benefits Manager, will host meetings the week of June 14 to review all benefits and answer questions.  Ambre will also be in Valencia the week of the 14th and be available for one to one meetings if needed, as well as by phone or video conference to assist employees with this process.”