ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,341, issued on April 29, was assigned to NuVasive Inc. (San Diego).
"Vertebral body replacement" was invented by Benjamin Arnold (San Diego), Rich Mueller (Carlsbad, Calif.), William Smith (Las Vegas) and Sharath Bellary (Cumberland, Md.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention involves a system and methods for assembling and implanting a vertebral body implant. The vertebral body implant includes, but is not necessarily limited to, an expandable core body and endplates that can be attached at both ends. Endplates of various shapes, sizes and angles are attachable to the expandable core so that a suitable vertebral body im...