Surgalign To Collaborate with Dr. Alexander Vaccaro and Dr. Pierce Nunley to Advance HOLO™ AI Insights and its Artificial Intelligence Technologies

DEERFIELD, Ill., May 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Surgalign Holdings, Inc., (NASDAQ: SRGA) a global medical technology company focused on elevating the standard of care by driving the evolution of digital health, is pleased to announce new collaborative alliances with Dr. Pierce Nunley and the Spine Institute of Louisiana, a prestigious medical facility and one of the top 20 patient-rated U.S. hospitals for best overall care, and Dr. Alexander Vaccaro, an advisor to Surgalign and one of the top-ranked spine experts in the world.

These new collaborations seek to advance Surgalign’s recently introduced HOLO™ AI Insights solution for lumbar spine imaging, which was launched in March 2023, and build upon the previous collaboration with Spine Institute of San Diego. All of the parties involved are focused on using HOLO AI Insights with a goal to enhance clinical decision support and patient care through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

HOLO AI Insights enables customers, partners, and clinical researchers to take advantage of the Company’s AI portfolio through a secure, highly scalable cloud platform for automated analysis of medical images. HOLO AI Insights analyzes standard protocol lumbar spine MRI images, providing quantitative measurements of 16 different anatomic structures in the spine, which in turn, are used to turn imaging data into structured datasets of clinically relevant biomarkers in patient populations. While the current solution is for research use and addresses the spine, the Company believes its AI portfolio and the insights generated have the potential for multiple applications in population health, clinical research and overall patient care.

Dr. Vaccaro has served as President of Rothman Orthopaedics since 2014 and is the Richard H. Rothman Professor and Chairman in the Department of Neurosurgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. He was the recipient of the Lon Wiltse award given for excellence in leadership and clinical research for spine care by the North American Spine Society (NASS) and is the past President of Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS), the American Spinal Injury Association and the Association for Collaborative Spine Research. He has over 900 peer-reviewed and 200 non-peer reviewed publications and is widely regarded as one of the top spine surgeons in the world. In 2021, he was named the #1 spine expert in the world by Expertscape, which examined medical publications indexed in the National Library of Medicine’s Medline database.

Dr. Vaccaro commented, “I’ve had the privilege of working with many companies in evaluating and developing new technologies. Surgalign, in my opinion, is one of the most exciting given the groundbreaking work they are doing with artificial intelligence. With HOLO AI Insights, for the first time, we will be able to assess imaging with real, quantitative information which should drive more informed clinical decisions and ultimately, help drive better patient outcomes.”

Dr. Nunley, who will be leading efforts for Spine Institute of Louisiana, is an experienced clinical research Principal Investigator for over 20 years. He is the founder and Medical Director of the Spine Institute of Louisiana and an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at LSU Health Sciences Center, where he has served as a clinical instructor since 1999. He is co-founder of The Spine Network (TSN), an organization dedicated to excellence and pioneering and integrating disruptive technologies, including AI, in Spine Research. He is a member of many professional institutions including, the International Spine Study Group (ISSG), Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS), Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (SMISS), North American Spine Society (NASS), American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), and the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS).

Dr. Nunley commented, “Our team is dedicated to the treatment of spinal disorders by using accurate and thorough diagnostic tools, advanced technologies and best practices, both in surgical procedures and treatment plans. Through HOLO AI Insights, we gain a clearer picture of medical images based on quantifiable data which can assist us in formulating clinical guidance for our patients. AI is becoming more prominent in the medical field and we look forward to working with Surgalign to unlock its potential.”

Terry Rich, President and Chief Executive Officer of Surgalign added, “Gaining surgeon feedback is paramount to the continuous advancement of our AI technology and with Dr. Vaccaro, Dr. Nunley, and the team at San Diego Spine Foundation, we have aligned with some of the best spine surgeons in the world. We look forward to working with them to gain their insights and enhance our AI capabilities to drive further adoption in the market and improve patient care.”

About Surgalign Holdings, Inc.
Surgalign Holdings, Inc. is a global medical technology company committed to the promise of digital health to drive transformation across the surgical landscape. Uniquely aligned and resourced to advance the standard of care, the company is building technologies physicians and other health providers will look to for what is truly possible for their patients. Surgalign is focused on developing solutions that predictably deliver superior clinical and economic outcomes. Surgalign markets products throughout the United States and in approximately 50 countries worldwide through an expanding network of top independent distributors. Surgalign is headquartered in Deerfield, IL, with commercial, innovation and design centers in San Diego, CA, Warsaw and Poznan, Poland, and Wurmlingen, Germany. Learn more at www.surgalign.com and connect on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on management’s current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, our management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by our management, and such forward-looking statements include (among others) statements regarding anticipated future financial and operating performance (including forecasted full-year revenue and number of HOLO sites secured), product rationalization and expense reduction initiatives and the results thereof, potential third party financing and anticipated cash needs. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on certain assumptions including general economic conditions, as well as those within the Company’s industry, and numerous other factors and risks identified in the Company’s most recent Form 10-K, 10-Q and other filings with the SEC. Our actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results reflected in these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results reflected in these forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to the following: (i) the Company’s access to adequate operating cash flow, trade credit, borrowed funds and equity capital to fund its operations and pay its obligations as they become due, and the terms on which external financing may be available, including the impact of adverse trends or disruption in the global credit and equity markets; (ii) risks relating to existing or potential litigation or regulatory actions; (iii) the identification of control deficiencies, including material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting; (iv) general worldwide economic conditions and related uncertainties; (v) the continued impact of the COVID-19 and the Company’s attempts at mitigation, particularly in international markets served by the Company; (vi) the failure by the Company to identify, develop and successfully implement its strategic initiatives, particularly with respect to its digital surgery strategy; (vii) the reliability of our supply chain; (viii) our ability to meet obligations, including purchase minimums, under our vendor and other agreements; (ix) whether or when the demand for procedures involving our products will increase; (x) our financial position and results, total revenue, product revenue, gross margin, and operations; (xi) failure to realize, or unexpected costs in seeking to realize, the expected benefits of the Holo Surgical Inc. (“Holo Surgical”) and Inteneural Networks Inc. (“INN”) acquisitions, including the failure of Holo Surgical’s and INN’s products and services to be satisfactorily developed or achieve applicable regulatory approvals or as a result of the failure to commercialize and distribute its products; (xii) the failure to effectively integrate Holo Surgical’s and INN’s operations with those of the Company, including: retention of key personnel; the effect on relationships with customers, suppliers, and other third parties; and the diversion of management time and attention to the integration; (xiii) the number of shares and amount of cash that will be required in connection with any post-closing milestone payments, including as a result of changes in the trading price of the Company’s common stock and their effect on the amount of cash needed by the Company to fund any post-closing milestone payments in connection with the acquisitions; (xiv) the continuation of recent quality issues with respect to our global supply chain; (xv) the effect and timing of changes in laws or in governmental regulations; and (xvi) other risks described in our public filings with the SEC. These factors should be considered carefully, and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement in this communication speaks only as of the date of the particular statement. Copies of the Company's SEC filings may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC or by visiting Surgalign’s website at http://www.surgalign.com/ or the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov/. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as may be required by law.

Investor and Media Relations Contact:
Glenn Wiener
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