Reporter’s Notebook (written by Elizabeth Hofheinz @ OTW)
Dear OTW Reader:
Big theme this week…U.S. losing talent and innovation?
A concerned spine surgeon tells OTW, “We are losing our edge to foreign countries.
The Chinese in particular have a tremendous knowledge base and a great thirst for more education. It used to be that Chinese surgeons came here to learn, but in the next ten years we’ll be going over there to learn from them. They are a hard driving group…the type of surgeons I used to see here.”
FDA “moving” companies to Europe?
A reimbursement consultant tells OTW, “Startups are not going public anymore because of all the reimbursement and regulatory hurdles. One company I worked with was never was able get FDA approval to begin an IDE; they starting booming in Europe and have abandoned any thoughts of the U.S. market. My clients are leaving the country and that is a sad statement for the future of American innovation. Soon we will have to hop on a plane to access new technology.”
Pity for American orthopedists?
OTW hears from an engineer: “Korea, Japan, and China have got some sexy innovation going on—they are developing their own implants and desig...
