About Spine Nuances & Coligne

Spine Nuances, USA

Spine Nuances is the brainchild of a long-standing Coligne development engineer, Vittoria Brighenti. Based on the outstanding performance of ostaPek® carbon composite implants during the past 30 years in Europe, Spine Nuances’ is all about establishing the ostaPek® carbon composite technology including all Coligne products in the North American market as one of the leading brands for spine fusion.

As a complement to the Coligne business headquartered in Europe, Spine Nuances’ focus is on marketing, sales and distribution including providing a self-service support platform for all existing Coligne customers in the North American market.

Vittoria Brighenti, CEO

Vittoria is a biomedical engineer by training and has worked on biomechanics with both the AO Foundation and Stryker Orthopedics before joining Coligne.

She has been involved in all aspects of implant design, validation and post market surveillance incl. assisting in surgeries. Vittoria is an expert for spine fusion in terms of device technology and its application, medical alternatives, treatment standards and regulatory requirements.

She has co-authored a number of papers based on clinical evaluations of spine implant products and is co-inventor for several patents.

Patrick Stepanek, Chairman

Patrick has fifteen years of management experience in the aerospace and mass customization industry.

Prior to becoming Spine Nuances’ CEO, he has lead Cimpress’ global cross-functional research and engineering organization, business units in aviation and the carbon composite aerospace industry.

Patrick holds an MBA in Global Management from Thunderbird School of Management, and a PhD in Manufacturing Automation in cooperation with Airbus.

He is also a sports-enthusiast who loves to play with high-tech materials be it on a bike or skis.

Coligne AG, Switzerland

Coligne was founded in Switzerland in 1993 based on Robert Lange’s desire to provide surgeons and their patients with improved methods and materials for spine surgery.

Driven by this pioneering spirit, Robert has focused Coligne on exploring the details of both surgical technique and the development of a new bio-material, ostaPek® carbon composite. Long lasting relationships with clients based on trust and respect have allowed Coligne to establish itself as one of the technology leaders for spine fusion in Europe today both in terms of surgical technique as well as implant material.

Coligne maintains its new way of thinking by encouraging exchange between different generations and professionals coming from various fields. Know-how grows. Treatment technology continuously improves. This is the “Coligne strategy in spine”.

Coligne headquarters are in Zurich, Switzerland, with nexiscoligne being a distribution and education office in Paris, France, and a biomaterial lab in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Robert Lange, CEO

Next to being Coligne’s CEO and Founder, Robert has lead the design team for both the ostaPek® carbon composite material and all ostaPek® cages and pedicles fixation systems. He has been involved with the entire program since its creation (1990), first in France and Switzerland, and then in Europe and the United States.

Robert has personally worked with some of the pioneer surgeons in spinal fixation incl. Prof. Raymond Roy Camille who is considered the inventor of the pedicle screw.

NexisColigne, France

The passion and lifestyle of nexiscoligne is equipping spine surgeons, so they can optimise their surgical results.

By bringing together experts from different generations, fields and cultures for a learning and teaching event, new surgical approaches have been developed and the performance of ostaPek® cages, plates and rods continuously improved over the past 25 years.

Robert Velez, Managing Director

Coming from a background of both manufacturing retail clothing and sales via a company-owned network of stores, Robert followed his passion to serve the medical community.

Before joining nexiscoligne he successfully lead the introduction of Orthofix in France.

In his role with nexiscoligne, Robert drove step-change growth in product sales, participated in the development of multiple patented Coligne products, and organized over 50 Coligne spine surgery workshops in France, Europe and Asia.

Bio-material Development Lab, USA

ostaPek® material has been developed in Coligne’s bio-material lab in Boulder, Colorado.

By controling the orientation of the carbon fiber bundles, the development and production team shapes the ostaPek® carbon composite material in different configurations for optimal mechanical properties.

The expertise of the team covers the whole manufacturing process, from the polymerization of the ostaPek material, to the quality control of the finished implants in a controlled environment.