KIDS - NASDAQ

Good afternoon, and welcome to the OrthoPediatrics Corporation Third Quarter 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the conference over to Trip Taylor from the Gilmartin Group for a few introductory comments.

Thank you for joining today's call. With me from the company are David Bailey, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Fred Hite, Chief Operating and Financial Officer. Before we begin today, let me remind you that the Company's remarks include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and the Company's actual results may differ materially. For a discussion of risk factors, I encourage you to review the Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC on March 5, 2025, and its subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. During the call today, management will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, which are supplemental measures of performance. The company believes these measures provide useful information for investors in evaluating its operations period-over-period. For each non-GAAP financial measure referenced on this call, the Company has included a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure in the third quarter earnings release. Please note that the non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for OrthoPediatrics financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, the content of this conference call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of the date of this live broadcast today, October 28, 2025. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any statements to reflect events or circumstances taking place after the date of this call. With that, I would like to turn the call over to David Bailey, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Thanks, Trip. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We are proud to start this call with our typical and most meaningful performance metric. In the third quarter, we supported the treatment of more than 37,100 children, increasing our total impact to approximately 1.3 million kids health. With too few solutions designed specifically for children and the clinicians who care for them, pediatric health care has long faced critical gaps. At OP, we are committed to addressing these unmet needs, and our mission to close those gaps and reshape the future of pediatric care remains clearer than ever. We have made tremendous progress in this market, but there is still a substantial market opportunity ahead. In the third quarter, we saw strength in all areas of our business, excluding 7D capital sales and LatAm international stocking and set sales. In fact, we saw total third quarter global revenue growth, excluding 7D capital sales of 17% and domestic revenue growth, excluding 7D capital sales of 19%. Both T&D and scoliosis implant sales were strong as we saw a very normal summer selling season and OPSB growth continues to be extremely robust with growth in excess of 20%. As a reminder, OPSB sales are approximately 80% T&D and 20% scoliosis, and we saw strong growth in both areas. As we highlighted in our preliminary announcement, our revenue results fell short of our expectations, driven by 2 isolated factors: 7D capital sales that were expected in the quarter did not close prior to the quarter end; and headwinds from stocking and set sales in Latin and South America have continued longer than expected. Although these 2 areas did not produce the results we wanted, these are 2 of our lower-margin segments. And because the rest of the business remains strong, we still delivered high gross margins and profitability in line with our expectations. Looking beyond the top-line for the third quarter, we are pleased to see a significant 56% improvement in adjusted EBITDA, growing to $6.2 million. In addition, we also saw huge progress with our free cash flow usage, which was dramatically lower in the third quarter, decreasing $8.2 million. Both of these metrics have been a focal point of our strategy, and we are succeeding in delivering our goals. Touching briefly on our outlook. As announced previously, for the full year, we now expect revenue to range from $233.5 million to $234.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA is still expected to be $15 million to $17 million, and we are on track to deploy $15 million in sets and generate positive free cash flow in Q4. Even though our top-line expectations have been adjusted, we are maintaining our profitability and free cash flow outlook. As we drive toward our profitability goals, our core business, consisting of trauma and deformity and scoliosis implants, specialty bracing and our international agencies generate higher margins and better free cash flow than the capital sales and LatAm stocking and set sales. Our core businesses are positioned to remain the key engines of revenue growth, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, and we are confident in our forecast of generating positive free cash flow in Q4 and breakeven in 2026. Turning to our segments. In the third quarter of 2025, the T&D business grew by 17% in the quarter, driven by continued strong market share gains across several product lines. More specifically, growth was led by strong performances in trauma implants and a return to normal scheduling in the elective limb deformity business. Extremely strong exfix growth and the continued high growth of OPSB were the highlights in the quarter. Taking a closer look at Trauma, we saw particularly strong revenue gains driven by continued rapid adoption of PNP Femur, PNP Tibia, ORTHEX and the Bioretec ActivaScrew. Looking closer at the 3P platform, following the FDA approval of the 3P Pediatric Plating Platform Hip system and its first surgical cases, we are seeing consistent case growth, which we expect to continue through the remainder of the year and to ramp aggressively as we begin the full launch of this product in 2026. Additionally, we are pleased to have recently accomplished another milestone for this platform as we have just announced the next 3P system in the series, 3P Small and Mini has been approved by the FDA. This approval comes ahead of schedule, and we now expect to complete the first cases in the beginning of next year. With the 3P platform, we expect to launch new systems each year for the next several years, bolstering both Trauma and Limb Deformity revenue. T&D remains a core growth engine for our business, powered by our expanding scale, ongoing market share gains and a steady cadence of innovation focused on unmet clinical needs. We have established ourselves as a market leader in T&D, and we are executing with confidence, especially as we see more competitors exiting the space by removing pediatric-specific product lines. Our OPSB specialty bracing strategy continues to build momentum. And with continued execution of our operational goals, our confidence in this long-term opportunity only strengthens. This segment represents a high potential capital-efficient growth avenue and is an integral part of our company strategy. We will continue our efforts to drive targeted territory expansion, accelerate R&D efforts and continue scaling our sales force. As a reminder, when we acquired Boston O&P in January of 2024, there were 26 operational clinics. As previously reported, since then, we have expanded to more than 40 clinics, entered into 8 new territories and launched several new products. Our preliminary expectations for new clinic return on investments of 25% for new clinic acquisitions and 40% for new greenfield clinics are being realized. During the quarter, we expanded our footprint into 2 very large markets, New York City and California. We expanded Denver and Ohio. And for the first time, we expanded internationally with a clinic in Ireland. These latest additions continue to reinforce the importance and need for OPSB clinics, and we anticipate that the strong wave of clinic expansion opportunities driven by high customer demand and a robust pipeline will continue. In addition to expansion opportunities, same-store sales growth has been increasing and generating positive momentum. Our OPSB strategy is delivering strong results and has proven to be a highly efficient expansion path for OrthoPediatrics. Our presence outside the operating room allows us to create deeper partnerships with our customers. This powerful strategy is extending our leadership position in pediatric orthopedics. We remain focused on executing our strategy with precision as we work towards securing a leading share in this growing market. Moving to the Scoliosis business. Our growth of 4% seen in Scoliosis this quarter was led by strong U.S. Scoliosis implant and Scoliosis OPSB growth, offset by $2.3 million lower 7D capital sales. U.S. Scoliosis growth continues to be led by new users adopting OrthoPediatrics technology, including RESPONSE as well as pull-through from past 7D placements. As mentioned, the underlying OUS business grew nicely, but was negatively affected by reduced stocking and set sales in LatAm, primarily Brazil. We expect this will continue for the next several quarters, but are working on an improvement plan to implement in the near future. 7D sales in the quarter were impacted by increased variability in the timing of unit placements that caused delayed capital sales and the corresponding revenue from those placements had a significant impact on quarterly sales and overall growth. Typically, there are a few 7D unit sales within the quarter. But for the third quarter 2025, there were 0 unit sales. This compares to our strongest 7D unit sales results in the third quarter of 2024. We still expect 7D to be a revenue driver for us, but we cannot predict how much and which quarter sales will fall in. To minimize the impact of lumpy 7D unit sales, we have adjusted our outlook, so there is minimal impact on our expectations, which does result in negative growth assumptions from this segment. Looking at our EOS product portfolio. We are pleased to see that our portfolio expansion strategy continues to be effective. In particular, we are seeing positive trends with our recently launched VerteGlide Spinal Growth Guidance System skeletally immature patients. Following the first completed cases in August, we are seeing solid adoption of VerteGlide through the limited release, and we remain on target for the full market release in the coming months. We are excited about the progress made within this portfolio and look forward to progressing the remainder of our EOS products. Moving to international. International underlying sales were solid in the quarter due to extremely strong demand in surgical volume in EMEA and APAC, offset by unfavorable growth from LatAm. The underlying revenue largely comes through our sales agencies and represents a good reflection of high surgeon usage and higher-margin replenishment revenue. We are particularly excited to see our EMEA Scoliosis launch going so well and are eagerly awaiting the EU MDR approval of our 4.5 Scoliosis System, along with multiple other approvals expected before the end of the year. On the other hand, the headwinds in LatAm have persisted longer than we anticipated. In an effort to focus on improved cash metrics, we have made the conscious decision to limit new stocking and set sales to South America. This dynamic continues to play out and negatively impacts our growth, particularly in Brazil. We believe that at this point, our LatAm business would be in a more stable position and that we would see the benefit of growth in Latin and South America again. However, we experienced continued disruption in sales, largely related to timing of large stocking and set orders. We're working towards solutions but expect there to be some variability here moving forward, which we have reflected in our outlook. In summary, we are proud of the way the business performed, excluding 7D and LatAm. OrthoPediatrics continues to lead the pediatric orthopedic market and provide comprehensive solutions to support the care of children. We remain focused on execution across the business, including scaling of OPSB, leveraging previous set deployments and launching innovative new products. This strategy will support revenue growth, increase adjusted EBITDA while meaningfully reducing cash burn as we work towards achieving free cash flow break-even in 2026. Lastly, we believe our strategy positions OrthoPediatrics to help more children than ever before. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Fred to provide more details on our financial results. Fred?

Thanks, Dave. Taking a closer look at the P&L. Our third quarter of 2025 worldwide revenue of $61.2 million increased 12% compared to the third quarter of 2024. Growth in the quarter was driven primarily by strong performance across Trauma and Deformity, Scoliosis and OPSB, offset by a decline in 7D unit sales and LatAm stocking and set sales. U.S. revenue was $48.7 million, a 14% increase from the third quarter of 2024, representing 80% of total revenue. Growth in the quarter was primarily driven by Trauma and Deformity, Scoliosis and OPSB, offset by a decline in 7D unit sales. We generated total international revenue of $12.5 million, representing growth of 6% compared to the third quarter of 2024 and representing 20% of our total revenue. Growth in the quarter was primarily led by increased procedure volumes, partially offset by lower stocking and set sales to LatAm. In the third quarter of 2025, Trauma and Deformity global revenue of $44.1 million increased 17% compared to the prior year period. Growth was primarily driven by strong growth across multiple product lines, specifically our cannulated screws, PNP Femur, PNP Tibia, DF2 and OPSB. In the third quarter of 2025, Scoliosis global revenue of $16.3 million increased 4% compared to the prior year period. Growth was primarily driven by increased sales of RESPONSE 5560 and revenue generated from FIREFLY, offset by a decline in 7D unit sales. Finally, Sports Medicine/Other revenue in the third quarter of 2025 was $0.9 million (sic) [$0.8 million ] compared to $1.3 million in the prior year period. Touching briefly on a few key metrics. For the third quarter of 2025, gross profit margin was 74% compared to 73% for the third quarter of 2024. The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by favorable product sales mix as a result of lower 7D unit sales and lower stocking and set sales to LatAm, which generate lower gross margin profit. Total operating expenses increased $9.0 million or 19% compared to the prior year period to $54.7 million in the third quarter of 2025. The increase was mainly driven by $2.3 million of restructuring charges, $2.3 million of impairment charges, increased noncash stock compensation as well as the ongoing growth of the OPSB clinics. Sales and marketing expenses increased $1.9 million or 11% compared to the prior year period to $18.7 million in the third quarter of 2025. The increase was mainly driven by increased sales commission expense and an overall increase in volume of units sold. General and administrative expenses increased $2.9 million or 11% year-over-year to $29.2 million in the third quarter of 2025. The third quarter increase was driven primarily by increased noncash stock compensation as well as the ongoing growth of the OPSB clinics. Intangible asset impairment recorded during the third quarter of 2025 was $2.3 million related to our annual impairment test, where we determined the fair value of ApiFix, Telos and Medtech trademark assets and Telos customer relationship assets were below the carrying value. We recorded an impairment charge to reduce the carrying amount of the intangible assets to their estimated fair value. Restructuring charges recorded during the third quarter of 2025 was $2.3 million related to the company's global restructuring plan started in the fourth quarter of 2024, aimed at improving operational efficiency, reducing operating costs as well as reducing staffing. For the third quarter, we recorded additional restructuring expense as we continue to review structural changes required to drive down costs. We saw savings in the third quarter, but anticipate greater impact in the fourth quarter and in 2026. Research and development expense decreased $0.2 million in the third quarter of 2025 due to timing of product development third-party invoices. Total other expense was $2.5 million for the third quarter of 2025 compared to $3.6 million of other expense for the same period last year. GAAP net loss per share for the period was $0.50 per basic and diluted share compared to $0.34 per basic and diluted share for the same period last year. Non-GAAP net loss per share for the period was $0.24 per basic and diluted share compared to $0.18 per basic and diluted share for the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $6.2 million in the third quarter of 2025, a 56% improvement when compared to $4.0 million in the third quarter of 2024. We ended the third quarter with $59.8 million in cash, short-term investments and restricted cash. In the third quarter, we saw a significant improvement in free cash flow performance. For the third quarter, free cash flow usage was $3.4 million compared to $11.7 million of free cash flow usage for the third quarter of 2024. Set deployment was $4.1 million in the third quarter of 2025 compared to $5.3 million in the third quarter of 2024. Turning to guidance. As Dave mentioned, we adjusted our expectation for full year 2025 revenue to be in the range of $233.5 million to $234.5 million, representing year-over-year growth of 14% to 15%. We are reiterating the guidance that our full year gross margin will be within the range of 72% to 73%. We also continue to expect to generate between $15 million to $17 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2025. Additionally, we continue to expect approximately $15 million of new set deployed in 2025. This represents our continued focus on driving the business to free cash flow break-even by 2026, and we anticipate delivering our first quarter of free cash flow positivity in the fourth quarter of 2025. Operator, let's open the call for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from David Turkaly with Citizens Bank.

Dave, you made a comment, I thought I heard you make it, so I just wanted to clarify it, something about competitors exiting the space. I was wondering like specifically, what were you referring to there?

Yes. Good question, Dave. Listen, we see some of the big OEMs that are -- have notified customers that they're pulling products that historically have been used in pediatric patient population. So we've seen that from J&J. We've seen that from Smith & Nephew in the last 6 months, more recently, J&J with a Hip product that would be a competitor to 3P. And so we have really nice timing that we're coming out with a new Hip system. And just, I think, seeing a continued defocus of these pediatrics in some of the large OEMs, which I think is not necessarily great overall for patients, but certainly good for us from a competitive standpoint.

And I know that you talked about sort of 12% being, I think, the new LRP limit or down, I guess, lower limit of growth. And it seems like you're doing a pretty good job with these clinics. But as we look ahead to the next couple of years, do you think there's an ability to possibly accelerate either the expansions or openings on the OPSB side, maybe to accelerate that number?

Yes. I think there is no question that there is extremely high demand for clinics. And this year, I would say we've gotten a lot of experience in terms of the timing of accelerating those clinics and the timing of getting those clinics started. We're pleased with what we've seen so far. And you can bet that if we have the opportunity to do more and do more faster, we would certainly want to do that. Certainly, trying to balance also that against the P&L requirements of trying to drive to increase profitability. But I think the demand is there. And yes, you could assume that if we have the opportunity to open more clinics, we would certainly want to do that.

Our next question comes from Ben Haynor with Lake Street Capital Markets.

First off for me, on OPSB and the 25% and 40% realized returns that you're seeing, is that something that includes any sort of halo effects that you see for other products on either the -- or I guess, on the QD and Scoliosis side?

No, it does not. We -- yes, it would be difficult, I think, to try to quantify that. So that's not included.

Okay. Got it. And then just thinking about the revenue range, the $1 million difference between the top end and the bottom end there with the $2 million difference between the top end and the bottom end of the EBITDA range. Is there anything that folks should read into there? Any additional color on what might drive that EBITDA range to the top or bottom end?

No, it's really product mix is probably the single biggest item that drives the change on the bottom line. That's where it was to start with, and we didn't feel like narrowing that gap on the last update.

Okay. That's fair enough. And then lastly for me, just on the competitors that notified customers that are exiting the market. Do you have a sense of where their shares stand at -- market share stands at for the likes of them?

Yes. I certainly don't know their market shares in each one of those individual product lines. No question that our largest competitors historically have been legacy products from those 2 large OEMs. And more of their product sales probably are in the commoditized small plate, small screws types of things like that. But certainly, when there are less options available in the market and we have the best products there, it certainly bodes well for us taking all the share we would credibly want to take in areas like hip deformity correction, for example.

Our next question comes from Ryan

This is Izzy on for Ryan. So I heard the comments about accelerating off of 12% for the long-term plan with new clinics opening. But I was just curious if you guys could talk a little bit about what's giving you the confidence in 12% as being the correct base to grow from.

Yes. I mean, I guess when we look at implant sales across the board and what we see adoption rates of all our products, the way the Scoliosis business has grown and then we strip out some of the uncertainty that we've seen from Latin America, and strip out the majority of the 7D, which inevitably is going to happen. But as we've said, it's very difficult for us to determine quarter-to-quarter. When you strip some of those things out and look at the momentum we have in all of those other areas of our business, it gives us a lot of confidence that a 12% kind of baseline is a good one for us. And you're right, I mean, I think there's the opportunity for acceleration when you look at the speed with which we're -- the rate with which we're growing the OPSB franchise. I mean there's just a lot of demand for clinics. We're seeing same-store sales within our existing clinics go up. And I don't even think that we have seen the impact yet from the R&D initiatives that we've got going. We launched a number of products on the OPSB side. I think DF2 is the primary one that we talk about because it's growing so rapidly. But I think in the next few quarters, we'll be talking a lot more about a number of new R&D projects that are coming out of the OPSB franchise. And I think when you add all that up, we feel very confident in kind of a baseline growth rate of 12% going forward.

Got it. And I heard you call out strength in other international regions outside of Brazil and LatAm. I was curious if you guys are taking any steps to kind of derisk international revenue volatility as we move into 2026. Are any of the other regions where you're seeing strength growing fast enough or strong enough to offset any of the headwinds that you've seen this year?

Yes. It certainly, as the international business grows, the dependence on revenue from Latin America, South America, particularly Brazil, becomes less impactful. And we are seeing really nice growth, particularly in Asia Pac as well as EMEA and particularly -- well, really across all of our implant businesses. I'd like to particularly call out the Scoliosis growth that we're seeing in both of those areas, which is new. We haven't really had a Scoliosis business, particularly in EMEA over the last few years. And here in the last 12 months, have really grown it from 0 to -- it's still small, but something nice and it's growing rapidly. And so all of that certainly offsets the volatility that we have from stocking distributors in Latin and South America. And I think Fred and I are going to work hard to determine if there are better structures that we could put in place with our stocking distributors in Latin America as well that could potentially mitigate some of the choppiness or lumpiness that we see in revenue. And so a number of things that we can do. But yes, I think you're on a good track here thinking that as we grow these businesses in our agencies, as our agencies become a larger percentage of our revenue, particularly in EMEA, that will mitigate some of this. Last thing I would comment on is the progress we're making on the EU MDR. So we have a number of files right now before our notified body, and we do expect by year-end, as we talked about earlier in the year to have a number of MDR approvals. I'd say the majority or the main one that we are excited about is the approvals for our small stature scoliosis system, the 45-50 system. Right now, we're growing the EMEA Scoliosis business rapidly, but really feel like we're doing it with one arm tied behind our back. We don't have half of the product portfolio there. And so to see customers so readily adopting RESPONSE when they really only have access to one embodiment of RESPONSE, is really encouraging, particularly knowing that we're on the dawn of getting approval for our small stature system.

Our next question comes from Matthew O'Brien with Piper Sandler.

This is Anna on for Matt. I guess I just wanted to ask a bit on the T&D franchise. You've got a bunch of good and new products there, but I guess we were maybe expecting a bit stronger growth. So how much room is left in the market? And maybe how much of that is low-hanging fruit versus penetrating the next layer of docs?

So we're really pleased right now with the kind of growth we see, I think, 17% for T&D global. And you could assume that we also see some T&D disruption in LatAm. So I think the underlying growth rate of T&D, our largest business is -- we feel really good about. There's a lot of growth remaining opportunities on the 7D -- a lot of growth remaining on the T&D side. Outside of the United States, as we've talked about, there's a number of EU MDR approvals that are going to help us continue to grow outside of the U.S. And then as you've heard, 3P Small-Mini, 3P Hip, these are product lines that are just now coming out. And again, we see the exiting of some of our competitors, I suppose, of the incumbent providers of products in that market. So I think one of the things that we need to consider or we're considering on the T&D side is just the pace with which we want to grow that business given the volume of sets deployed. You see our set deployment number this year come down from nearly 25 last year to 15 this year. A big portion of those sets are on the T&D side. And so without a direct competitor there, we don't have anybody trying to steal our lunch money, so to speak, in that business. And we can flex our growth rate a little bit. And when we won't want to put as much capital out and driving hard to generate free cash here, we'll deploy fewer sets, and that can impact the growth rate negatively if we deploy fewer sets maybe by a few points or positively if we, in the future, decide to ramp up set deployment and grow the T&D business a little faster. So a lot of low-hanging fruit, I think, still available to us. It's a question more of how we want to either throttle up the growth or throttle back the growth based on the cash usage we want to use in the future.

Got it. That's super helpful. And then on 7D placements, there tends to be a strong implant pull-through effect in the next few years following placement. So I was just wondering how the lowered outlook on 7D, how that has any impact on the growth of the core spine business going forward?

Yes. That's a great question. I think this is less about our outlook and more about timing. We -- obviously, the unit placements that we anticipated happening in Q3 certainly haven't gone away. you could assume that they're likely to close at some point in time in the future, whether that's a number of them in Q4 or a bunch in Q1 or vice versa, it's hard for us to determine. But I don't think that the delays in the placements of those types of units are something that is significant enough for us to impact the long-term growth rate of the implant business on the Scoliosis side. And so not particularly concerned about that. I think we have more in the top of our funnel on the 7D side than we've ever had. And so I think there's a bright future in terms of set deployments for placements of 7D units. It's just -- again, it's hard to determine which quarter it will happen and pretty unlikely to affect implant sales.

Okay. Great. That's great to hear. And then if I can just squeeze in one last one on the profitability improvements we saw in OpEx, what was cut and how durable because you guys did a good job this quarter.

Yes. We're very pleased with the results we saw in the third quarter. Nice improvement both this third quarter compared to the same time last year as well as improvement over the second quarter. As mentioned, the restructuring actions we started in the fourth quarter of last year, took some more smaller actions earlier this year and then some bigger actions here in the third quarter. A little bit of those savings showed up in the third quarter, but more of those savings will show up here in the fourth quarter as well as all of 2026. So despite the softness in revenue, gross margins are strong. Profits are right where we expected them to be even with higher revenue. And that all means improved free cash flow for the business, which is obviously a key goal as well. So definitely taking steps in the right direction here.

Our next question comes from Mike Matson with Needham & Company.

This is Joseph on for Mike. So I guess maybe just to start off the EU MDR, the approvals or expected approvals you guys called out. Does that get you to half or above half of the Scoliosis portfolio available over there in Europe? And then just the reduced staffing that you guys called out, I was just wondering, maybe you did mention it where that's coming from. Is that like demand driven? Is it location dependent? Is this just kind of bloat, I guess, just kind of trimming the fat for staff that necessarily wasn't needed?

Yes. So from an EU MDR approval standpoint, yes, on our Fusion platform, having the 45-50 would really give us a full complement on the Fusion side. Certainly, the newer products on the EOS, the early onset scoliosis products are not approved in Europe. That said, there are a number of hospitals and physicians in Europe that operate in locations where they can get those types of products through a critical access type of device or emergency use type of device. So we do expect some sales on the EOS side. But yes, we'd have a pretty -- we would have a full complement of product on the RESPONSE side once we get the RESPONSE 45-50 approved. I think on the staffing side, a lot of staffing as we announced last year, we shut down the majority of the facility in Israel, and so we're starting to see some savings there. We have historically used our Telos business, both internally for R&D efforts related to clinical and regulatory efforts related to EU MDR as well as have the Telos business working with a few outside companies. I think as we have gotten to a point where EU MDR or at least the technical files have been submitted on the EU MDR side, we can start to throttle back some of those expenses we had with Telos. And so there was head count associated with that. And I would just say, generally, we're just tightening things up here and recognizing that the business is going to be solidly profitable, and we're going to generate some cash here in the near future and making some changes around the edges that ultimately will help us drive profitability.

Okay. Great. Yes, that makes a lot of sense. And then I guess maybe just the, the next-gen or the new spinal fusion system. I guess, is that still expected this year? Or is that more of a 2026 launch? I don't know if that has to do anything with how much momentum you guys are getting with RESPONSE, if that's changing your thinking around the launch there. But yes, any color there would be helpful.

Yes. Certainly, Nextgen will be a 2026 initiative, probably not a full-blown launch in 2026, but our hope is to start doing some cases probably in the back part of 2026. you're fairly accurate in saying that while from an R&D perspective, we're heads down on making sure we got the best system. It's not critically imperative that, that product gets launched right away when we see RESPONSE growth as high as it is. So we're certainly not throttling anything back, but it's good to see that when Nextgen comes, we think we'll have an absolutely elite system there, and it will be building on the strength of RESPONSE and an already growing product line in RESPONSE. And so probably 2026, to answer your question, back part of 2026, probably a big launch in 2027, 2028 but not factored into our revenue here this year or really much revenue in 2026.

Our next question comes from Richard Newitter with Truist Securities.

This is Ravi in for Rich. I have 2 questions. So just the first one on 3P, a number of kind of, I don't know, line extensions or kind of new innovation and how to characterize that new innovation in the space. But just around that, can you help us understand how that gets you into -- I believe you talked about a $450 million or LatAm in that opportunity? Like how does that allow you to penetrate that? And then presumably, should we be thinking of this longer-term as kind of a leverage driver, both SG&A as well as gross margins, given that you have kind of a unified platform of products for production and kind of sale? And I have a follow-up.

Yes. So there are -- as we mentioned, the 3P, there is a number of different implant systems in the 3P that will be more targeted to anatomic areas or specific deformity correction opportunities. I would say that the -- I would say that we are opening a lot of new opportunities with 3P because of our existing plating system doesn't have all of the indications covered. And I would say is a little bit antiquated. And so I think 3P being kind of the flagship for our trauma and limb deformity product portfolio on a go-forward basis has a big impact on our capacity to grow the T&D business. I think that it probably gets us deeper, Ravi, into existing accounts. As you know, we're present in every major children's hospital. But I think what we struggle sometimes with is that when there's shelf space and shelf presence for things that are more commoditized and small plates and screws that have been there for a long time. It's going to take some more disruptive technology to get those systems off the shelf and get newer, more modern systems in. And so I do think that as we do the full launch of 3P over the next few years, you're going to see the opportunity for substantial displacement of more of the commoditized product and replace that with some pretty high-technology products that also have very specific plates and screws, shapes and sizes, instruments that ultimately allow surgeons to do the procedures easier. And so it's a big deal for us, and I do think it allows us to get deeper and deeper in the children's hospitals where we're already present.

Yes. And to the leverage question, that's a great call out. I mean it's called a platform for a reason. That's the design from the very beginning is to try to leverage this stuff and to really drive what we've been working on for the last really 3 to 5 years with all of our new product introductions, which is improved return on all of our assets that we're deploying. And by combining this into a platform, we can then leverage similar drivers, similar screws, a lot of the similar items across multiple platforms, which gives us tremendous improved return on investment on these new sets coming out. So more leverage there, leverage with the suppliers than really on the SG&A side. So you'll probably see it show up more in improved gross margin. But absolutely, improved gross margin and better return on investment from a cash perspective is absolutely multiple benefits from that type of a system launch.

Yes. And just sorry to amplify Fred's point on the asset utilization metrics here. I mean we've talked to the investment community for a long time about how our legacy products probably where some of those products that are in the market still growing, but they've been out there for 10 and 15 years. And when we developed those products 15 -- nearly 20 years ago, asset utilization metrics were not top of our list when we were a tiny company 20 years ago or 18 years ago. And since the IPO and really over the last 5 years, I mean, new product development is not only focused on meeting major unmet clinical needs in pediatric healthcare, but also being able to do that where we're getting better asset utilization metrics, so either high ASP against -- or less inventory. And I can say with confidence after seeing what we're getting on 3P Hip and what we're getting both from an ASP standpoint as well as just the inventory required to do those elective procedures that the 3P -- first iteration of the 3P platform is doing exactly as we want. It's allowing surgeons to do procedures on kids they would really struggle otherwise and really high demand types of patients, but it's also doing it at a really nice price point for us, a really nice margin for us. And I'm pretty excited to see the return on assets meeting our needs, meaning a substantial improvement over some of our legacy products.

Great. And then just maybe one last one. No, no I mean, it's an important product driver, right? So -- and then just on the last -- just kind of a question on the Q&A kind of just struck me around how you're thinking about Latin American growth right now and kind of Brazil as you kind of work your way through the dynamics there. And when you're looking at kind of the long-term 12% outlook that you're putting out there for '26, '27 and beyond, how should we kind of think about -- if you're looking to restart growth, obviously, in that area of the world with a new business model potentially coming in, should we think about maybe trading some profitability for revenue there? Or any kind of comments that you can kind of give us as you work through your new strategy there, given the changes you've seen in the last couple of months would be very helpful into '26.

Yes. What I would say is I think you should expect more of the same in that revenue is important, but improving profitability and improving free cash flow is as important. And so it's not revenue at all cost. It's revenue that's profitable and it's revenue that generates free cash flow for us. And any change that we do, I think, in the business, you could assume is going to follow those same principles. So it's not necessarily going to maximize revenue growth, but more importantly, improve the profitability of sales down there as well as improve the -- dramatically improve the cash flow of that operation.

I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Dave for any further remarks.

Well, thank you for everybody for your good questions. Thank you for your time. And I'd just like to thank all of my associates and partners in pediatric health care and our investors for continuing to share in the mission to help 1 million kids a year. Have a great day, and we look forward to talking to you soon.