Minimally Invasive Sacroiliac Joint Surgery

SI-BONE Adds 35 Employees in 2010 Accelerating Revenue Dramatically

Intends to Double Workforce in 2011

San Jose, California, January 17, 2011 / PRNewswire / -- SI-BONE, Inc. (San Jose, California), a medical device company that is pioneering the use of a minimally invasive surgical (MIS) device to treat the sacroiliac (SI) joint announced today that it has added thirty five (35) employees in 2010. At the beginning of 2010 SI-BONE had five (5) full time employees and by December 31, forty (40) full time employees.

Commenting on the Company’s dramatic personnel growth, Jeffrey Dunn, President and CEO, said, "We’ve added fifteen (15) direct sales representatives and four (4) Area Directors to targeted geographies in the US and begun a direct presence in the EU as well as distribution. The increase in the field team significantly boosts SI-BONE’s ability to increase awareness of the need for appropriate diagnosis of low back complaints,which should include assessment of the SI joint. Our iFuse device is a minimally invasive surgical (MIS) option designed to provide fixation of disruptions of the SI joint. We’ve also added experienced staff in Marketing, Clinical, Operations and Quality, which allows us to provide useful clinical information to spine surgeons, pain management and physical therapy specialists.”

The Company intends to add personnel across the board in 2011 to double its employee headcount from forty to almost eighty. In addition, SI-BONE intends to add to its physician faculty and Medical Advisory Board in 2011, in order to ensure effective communication on the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of low back complaints due to the SI joint.

“The SI joint is a significant cause of low back pain,” said Mark Reiley, M.D., founder and Chief Medical Officer. “There is a wealth of published clinical research on the SI joint as a significant contributor to low back problems. All spine surgeons should include the SI joint as part of a differential diagnosis of low back complaints. The SI joint should be one of the first things that surgeons evaluate in patients presenting with lowback complaints.” SI-BONE received clearance in November 2008 from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its iFuse Implant System. The CE mark for European commercialization was obtained in November 2010. The iFuse provides immediate post-operative fixation, accomplishing the goal of traditional open SI joint fusion through an MIS approach. Clinical publications have identified the SI joint as a pain generator for up to 25 percent of low back pain patients andthat up to 75 percent of post-lumbar fusion patients develop SI joint degeneration within five years of surgery. These represent significant unmet clinical needs where iFuse may provide an MIS option.

In response to increasing awareness of SI joint disruption and dysfunction as debilitating symptom generators, SI-BONE, Inc. developed an innovative, patented, intramedullary implant to treat the SI joint. The company is also embarking on a post-market multicenter study to determine its effect over time on SI joint pathology and on symptoms associated with SI joint problems.

The iFuse Implant System is a commercially available device in the United States intended for fracture fixation of large bones and large bone fragments of the pelvis for conditions including sacroiliac joint disruptions and degenerative sacroiliitis. The iFuse procedure uses a minimal incision for delivery and implantation of small, titanium implants. The implants are coated with a porous plasma spray that acts as an interference surface, designed to help decrease implant motion. These implants have substantial thickness and sophisticated metallurgy and are able to produce a much stronger construct than that of conventional pins or screws used to surgically fix boney structures. This implant technology from SI-BONE has been previously used successfully in well over 1,000 cases of dysfunctional foot joints.

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About SI-BONE, Inc.
SI-BONE, Inc. (San Jose, California) is a leading spinal medical device company dedicated to the development of tools and products for diagnosing and treating patients with low back issues related to sacroiliac (SI) joint pathology. The company has developed, and is manufacturing and marketing, less invasive approaches using implants for the treatment of SI joint pathology. SI-BONE has an experienced management team with extensive experience in orthopedic and spine medical devices.