The history of spine innovation has deep roots in France—Yves Cotrel, Claude Dubosset, and Theirry Marnay—to cite only three in the modern era and new ideas and approaches continue to emerge from France’s phenomenal engineering culture.
Recently, young France-based company, SC MEDICA caught our attention. Notably, SC MEDICA will be exhibiting at North American Spine Society (NASS) October 19-21 in Los Angeles.
Here is a profile of this interesting, emerging company—SC MEDICA and its founder and CEO Camille Srour, Ph.D.
The Début
“I first witnessed a spine procedure at the age of 17, so I already have 20 years of experience in spinal medical devices,” jokes Srour. “My father is a neurosurgeon, and very early on during my engineering studies, we started discussing the limitations of standard spinal surgeries…and imagining ways to do things differently.”
En route to the business world, Camille Srour moved to the U.S. to pursue a master’s degree in engineering at Columbia University. “I remember that during my engineering years, some program administrators were of the opinion that we engineering students were lacking in ‘soft skills,’ so they signed us all up for a course on negotiation.”
After Columbia University, Bain & Company
Srour was captivated by the information gleaned from this course and thrilled to discover that there were decades of rigorous research on human behavior. “I finished my master’s program in 2011 and for three years worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company. But Pandora’s Box had been opened and my interest in human behavior—particularly in the area of distinguishing between lies and the truth—was ignited.”
Seeking out the world’s most published researcher on lie detection, Aldert Vrij, Ph.D., Camille Srour traveled to the University of Portsmouth in England to work in his lab. “I spent a few months with Dr. Vrij, where my interest in detecting deception intensified. I learned there that most of our beliefs about human deception, starting with the fact that people tend to look away when they lie, were unsubstantiated myths. I was particularly interested in translating this science into the business situations I encountered in my professional life.”
Taking the plunge back into academia, Srour entered a Ph.D. program in behavioral psychology at Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès (France)—and he did it all while founding and running several companies.
Enter the Spine
A serial entrepreneur armed with next-level negotiation skills, Dr. Camille Srour has created companies in artificial intelligence, behavioral sciences, and spinal devices. With his company SC MEDICA, he has developed and patented the FFX® device, a facet fusion cage which has been on the European market for six years. The company is now working to have the device cleared by the FDA.
“Lumbar spinal stenosis is one of the most common spinal diseases, with about 300,000 surgeries performed each year in the U.S. alone,” says Srour. “The stenosis compresses the nerves, and patients cannot walk more than a few feet.”
“Decompression alone puts them at risk of instability because some bones have been removed to decompress the nerves; this results in up to 10% of patients having to undergo a secondary procedure due to this instability (in the two or three years following the first procedure).”
“On the other end of the spectrum, you can remove the bone and add big, rigid pedicle screws that often lead to a lot of other problems, like screw misplacement and associated complications.”
“Most importantly, pedicle screw fixation is so rigid that even when properly placed, the mechanical load is sent to the adjacent levels of the spine, also causing approximately 10% reoperations. My thought was, ‘There must be something in between pedicle screw fusion and decompression!’”
Removes Back and Leg Pain
Over the six years FFX® has been available in the European Union (EU), surgeons have implanted it more than 10,000 times to treat lumbar spinal stenosis and facet syndromes.
“It has been so rewarding to have doctor after doctor amazed at the instant impact of this procedure. They have been thrilled to see that with the FFX®, they achieve the same bony fusion rate and stability as with a pedicle screw, but with a device designed to be less invasive,” said Dr. Camille Srour.
“The procedure is also designed to reduce surgical time and blood loss during the surgery, compared to pedicle screws.”
“Another highlight is that when surgeons undertake a decompression alone, they essentially say to their patients, ‘I can remove your leg pain (due to nerve compression) but not your back pain.’ FFX® is designed to remove both! This is because the FFX® device is designed to also address back pain coming from the facet joints—facet syndrome—which is prevalent in most degenerative stenosis patients.”
The Data So Far
A multicenter EU study completed in 2020 involving patients with facet syndrome and lumbar spinal stenosis found that bony facet fusion occurred with 86.3% of device placements after 12 months. Additionally, the leg and back pain and disability scores significantly improved between the preoperative and 1 year follow-up assessments.
As Dr. Camille Srour explained to OTW: “At this point, we have new data about to be published comparing two-year results between pedicle screws and FFX® fusion. The pedicle screw group had a higher reoperation rate, mostly because of adjacent level degeneration, while both groups achieved the same fusion rate.”
Looking forward, Dr. Camille Srour sees a future in helping American patients suffering with facet syndrome and lumbar spinal stenosis. “We are working diligently to have the FFX® cleared by the FDA so that this powerful technology can be available in the U.S. We truly believe that this device elevates the standard of care in these debilitating conditions.”
Spine, engineering, psychology…Camille Srour, Ph.D. continues to craft his à la carte life.
I would love to have opportunity to distribute this device in texas when it becomes available in the US