Meet the world’S Largest Orthopedic Company – J&J/DePuy + Synthes

+ link to The Press Release Post-deal numbers… The largest combined Orthopedics company by a mile Largest acquisition in J&J history Merger will affect 22,000 employees worldwide J&J/Depuy + Synthes = 28% market share in orthopedics (by comparison: SYK has 14% and ZMH has 13%) Chairman Dr. Hansjorg Wyss, who controls 48% of Synthes, is [...]

5 Ways for Orthopedic Surgeons to Increase Revenue

5 Ways for Orthopedic Surgeons to Increase Revenue (Beckers) Here are five ways orthopedic surgeons can add to their revenue stream. 1. Invest in a surgery center or office building. With declining reimbursement rates, physicians have to figure out how to generate additional income, says Pedro Vergne-Marini, MD, managing member of Physicians Capital Investments. One [...]

Tornier Launches New Rotator Cuff Repair Mesh Made From Resorbable Polymer Fibers

Tornier Launches Rotator Cuff Mesh (OTW) BioFiber Surgical Mesh is a proprietary three-dimensional fiber structure designed to provide a strong but flexible scaffold for cell migration and enhanced healing. The fibers of the mesh are derived from proprietary resorbable polymers called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).

Decreased Length of Hospital Stay Leads to More Readmissions After Total Hip Replacement

Decreased length of hospital stay, but increased readmissions found after hip replacement (OrthoSuperSite) A recently published study in Journal of the American Medical Association on Medicare beneficiariesundergoing total hip arthroplasty showed that the average length of hospital stay and proportion of patients discharged home decreased between 1991 and 2008, while the rate of hospital readmissions and discharge to [...]

Some of the Smith & Nephew “9″ Fight Back With Counterclaims

Ex-Smith & Nephew Workers Push Back (Memphis Daily News) Smith & Nephew now has to deal with countercomplaints filed by some of the nine employees the company fired last month after the company claimed they were planning to resign together, start their own company and use Smith & Nephew trade secrets. Those named as filing [...]

US Total Hip Registry to Kickoff With a Grant to UMass Medical School

UMass to Lead Creation of Total Joint Replacement Registry (Beckers) The UMass Medical School has received a $12M federal grant to lead a consortium that will create a research registry for total joint replacements. The consortium includes: University of Rochester Medical Center University of Maryland Medical Center Baylor College of Medicine Kaiser Permanente-Georgia Connecticut Joint [...]

Anulex Reduces Staff After Receiving an FDA Warning Letter Regarding Xclose Anular Repair System

Layoffs occur at Anulex following FDA’s warning letter (MedCityNews) The FDA had granted Anulex a 510(k) approval for the Xclose soft tissue repair system to be used for general and orthopaedic surgery. But after the company did a post-market study to see how Xclose performed when used to repair the annulus, the FDA took offense [...]

RTI Biologics Announces a Spine Allograft Supply Agreement With Alphatec Spine

RTI Biologics Announces Processing and Supply Agreement With Alphatec Spine (press release) Under the agreement, which is effective immediately and has a three year term with the option to renew, RTI will process allograft implants for use in spine made from assembled cortical allograft.

Modern Hip Replacements: The Good News and the Bad News

Hip Replacements: Good and Bad News (Ivanhoe) Total hip arthroplasty is a safe and effective therapy for patients with advanced degenerative joint disease. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in performance of this procedure both in the United States and abroad. An analysis of data from Medicare beneficiaries who underwent a hip [...]

MicroAire Surgical to Expand Virginia Operations

MicroAire Surgical to expand Virginia operations (Business Week) MicroAire Surgical Instruments is planning to expand its operations in Albemarle County, Va., creating 51 jobs.

Benvenue Medical Closes $35M Series C Funding for Clinical Trial of Their New VCF System

Benvenue Medical Closes $35.5 Million Series C Financing (press release) Benvenue Medical, Inc., a developer of minimally invasive solutions for spine repair, announced the completion of a $35.5 million Series C round of financing. The proceeds will be used to complete KAST (Kiva® System as a Vertebral Augmentation Treatment – ASafety and Effectiveness Trial) and execute on the company’s [...]

What’S Next? Smith and Nephew + Biomet?

Smith & Nephew under pressure as rivals hold talks (Telegraph) If J&J does decide to pursue Synthes, it could pave the way for S&N to merge with US rival Biomet, which is owned by US buy-out firms Blackstone, KKR, TPG and Goldman Sachs.

Use of PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) Does Not Accelerate Rotator Cuff Healing

No benefit of platelet-rich plasma found for rotator cuff healing (OrthoSuperSite) Using autologous platelet-rich plasma at the time of rotator cuff repair fails to have a significant positive impact on healing time as determined by ultrasound observation, according to a study presented at the AANA meeting.

Orthopedic 510(k) Clearances in March = 57 Total

57 Orthopedic and Spine Devices Receive FDA 510(k) Clearance in March (Beckers) The Food and Drug Administration issued 57 orthopedic- and spine-related 510(k) clearances in March, according to an FDA report. 1. MSA Hip System from Global Manufacturing Technology. 2. Laguna Pedicle Screw System from Phygen. 3. Concorde Bullet Cage System from Johnson & Johnson. [...]

DGIMed Ortho Raises $2.1M to Market Its System for Finding the Distal Locking Screw Hole Without Imaging

DGIMed Ortho raises $2.1M (Med City News) An orthopedic company in Minnetonka, Minnesota has raised $2.1 million in its latest funding round. DGIMed Ortho, an early stage medical device company, makes the Distalock system consisting of intramedullary nails and drills that assists orthopaedic surgeons. Intramedullary nails or rods are metal rods that are used to [...]

New Bone Graft Delivery Device From Micromedics Is Available for Orthobiologics Companies

Micromedics, Inc., a Nordson Company Announces New OsteoXpressTM Bone Graft Delivery Device (Montreal Gazette) Micromedics, Inc., a Nordson Company (NASDAQ: NDSN), has introduced a 15cc Graft Delivery Device, the first product in their new OsteoXpressTM line of bone grafting devices. These devices facilitate the mixing of bone graft material used in orthopedic surgical procedures. Target [...]

Bone Marrow Biopsy Is Quicker and Less Painful With the New Vidacare System

Bone Marrow Biopsy Quicker, Less Painful With Rotary Device (Medscape) The results from the first randomized placebo-controlled trial of a new rotary-powered bone marrow device are promising. The trial was designed to compare the powered bone marrow device (11 gauge/102 mm OnControl Bone Marrow Biopsy System, Vidacare Corporation) with traditional manual devices (e.g., Jamshidi bone marrow biopsy [...]

An Emotional Patient Shares Her Horror Story With Senate Panel About Her Depuy ASR Metal-on-Metal Hip

DePuy hip recall: Patient shares horror story with Senate panel (MassDevice) Katie Korgaokar captures the attention of a Senate panel examining medical device safety on Capitol Hill with her story of a faulty ASR hip implant made by DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., accusing the surgeon who implanted the device of receiving more than $600,000 in consulting [...]

The Feds Are Expanding Their Investigation Into Medtronic’S Off-Label Use of Infuse

Medtronic Bone-Growth Product Scrutinized (NY Times) Feds Widening Infuse Inquiry (OTW) The New York Times reported that the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) criminal investigation into Medtronic’s off-label marketing of Infuse was “apparently widening.” Medtronic received the first subpoena from the DOJ looking into off-label use of InFuse in October 2006.

Ceramic Hips That Squeak Tend Be Found in Patients That Are Taller, Heavier and Younger

Study identifies patient characteristics for squeaking hips (OrthoSuperSite) 2,406 primary ceramic-on-ceramic hip arthroplasties were studied. The investigators identified 74 squeaking hips (3.1%) out of the series and investigated patient factors associated with an increased incidence of squeaking. Patients with squeaking hips tended to be taller (5 feet 7 inches vs. 5 feet 6 inches), heavier [...]

3 New Orthopedic Products Receive Design Awards From MDDI Magazine

37 Innovative Products Win Medical Design Excellence Award (press release) Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry (MD+DI) magazine has announced the winners of the fourteenth annual Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA) competition. Three Orthopedic award winners were: DISTALOCK Intramedullary (IM) Nail and Drill System (DGIMED Ortho Inc.) iO-Flex surgical system (Baxano Inc.) The Mill powered surgical tool [...]

Increased Use of Less Invasive Arthroplasty Among Those < 65 Will Catalyze Growth in Total Joints in the US

Increased Use of Less Invasive Arthroplasty Among Those Under 65 Will Catalyze Growth in Large Joint Devices in the United States (Qmed) According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, the market for hip and knee reconstruction will be driven by increasing patient acceptance of unicondylar knee implants and [...]

High-Flex Knee Replacement Devices May Carry Risks

High-Flex Knee Replacement Devices May Carry Risks (NewsInferno) A study conducted between 2003 and 2004 involving one popular high-flex knee (not the Sigma CR150 High-flex Knee or Sigma RP-F Knee systems) that included 47 patients found that at the 32-month mark, 38% experienced aseptic loosening around the femoral components and 21% required a revision surgery [...]

Zimmer Restructuring Reaches the Austin Spine and Orthobiologics Locations

Zimmer Holdings restructuring affects Austin site (Austin Business Journal) Zimmer spokesman Garry Clark would not specify how many employees were impacted in Austin by the changes, either through buy-out packages or layoffs. Zimmer (Nasdaq: ZMH) has a strong presence in the Austin market through Zimmer, Zimmer Spine and Zimmer Orthobiologics, said Susan Davenport, senior vice president of [...]

Integra LifeSciences Invests More in Spine After the Theken Spine Acquisition

Integra LifeSciences Opens New Facility in Medina, Ohio (press release) Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:IART) today announced that it has opened a new facility in Medina, Ohio, to house its growing spinal implant business. The facility is equipped with the latest video and communication technology, which will help support global business operations as well as [...]

4 Tactics for Direct-to-Patient Marketing of Orthopedics

4 Tactics for Direct-to-Patient Marketing of Orthopedics (by Laura Miller at The Weinbach Group, Beckers) Direct-to-patient marketing of orthopedic services can be challenging, yet necessary in some communities to drive patient volume and promote a positive physician reputation. “Orthopedics certainly has unique characteristics when it comes to marketing because of the nature of the ailments [...]

20 of the Most Profitable Orthopedic and Spine Device Companies

20 of the Most Profitable Orthopedic and Spine Device Companies (Beckers) The following companies are ranked by 2010 revenue and net sales reported in financial statements. Companies selected for inclusion where chosen because of their focus on orthopedics and spine, profitability of the company and public availability of company financial information. This list is not [...]

Robot-Guided Spine Surgery – 10 Things to Consider

10 Points of Robot-Guided Spine Surgery (Beckers) One of the biggest trends across orthopedics is using automation and robotics to guide the surgeon during surgical procedures. Mazor Robotics, the manufacturer of SpineAssist, has developed one of the only products currently available in the United States to provide spine surgeons with robotic guidance for implantable devices [...]

Wright Medical CEO Gary Henley Abruptly Resigns

Wright Medical President and CEO Henley resigns (Forbes) Wright Medical Group Inc. said that CEO Gary Henley resigned from the company before a board meeting where the company planned to discuss regulatory compliance issues. Wright Medical also said it terminated CTO Frank Bono for cause. The termination was also related to compliance issues, as Wright [...]

TranS1 Update – Some Good News and Some Bad News

Trans1’s Clearance, Paper Approvals and Guidance (OTW) Good news and bad news for for TranS1: + New 510(k) clearance for its next-generation AxiaLIF 1L + Released two clinical papers highlighting the efficacy and safety of the AxiaLIF spinal fusion procedure have been approved for publication in leading spine peer-reviewed journals. – Lowered Q1 guidance by $1.2M due [...]

FDA to Evaluate Metal-on-Metal Adverse Event Data – UK Problems May Be Overstated

FDA to Collect Adverse Event Data Despite UK Recall of Metal Hip Implants (FDA News) Quality problems with metal-on-metal (MoM) hip replacement systems, like Johnson & Johnson (J&J)’s ASR devices, may not be as widespread as UK data indicates, the FDA says. National Joint Registry of England and Wales data, which last year showed high [...]

14 Orthopedic and Spine Device Company Executive Moves

14 Orthopedic and Spine Device Company Executive Moves (Beckers) Steve Bales was promoted from executive vice president to president and CEO of Global-Med Technologies. Stephen T. Colaiezzi was named senior vice president of strategic marketing of Interventional Spine. DJO Global’s CEO Leslie Cross announced his plans to retire by the end of June, and then recently joined the [...]

Canadian Patients Wait Time for Total Joint Surgery Has Been Reduced

Canada’s Surgery Wait-Time Down (OTW) By 2010, 84% of Canadian patients were receiving hip replacements within wait time benchmarks of 182 days.

Study Shows Increased Operative Times for Performing Total Knee Replacement in Overweight Patients

Study shows increased operative times for performing total knee replacement in overweight patients (OrthoSuperSite) Study found increased time for obese patients in total room time (24 minutes), surgery time (16 minutes), tourniquet time (7.5 minutes) and closure time (8 minutes). “Before this particular study, we knew that when people are heavier, the surgery could be [...]

February 22, 2012

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