ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,636,161, issued on May 26, was assigned to Globus Medical Inc. (Audubon, Pa.).
"Expanding intervertebral implants" was invented by Tyler Hessler (Phoenixville, Pa.), Chad Glerum (Pennsburg, Pa.), Mark Weiman (Downingtown, Pa.), Albert Hill (Richboro, Pa.) and Myles Sullivan (Philadelphia).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A spacer separates bones of a joint using a driver tool having a threaded shaft. The spacer has a superior endplate with inferior facing ramps, and an inferior endplate with superior facing ramps. Two bearings are positioned between the endplates, each bearing has superior facing ramps which mate with the inferior facing ram...