News and Trends at Eurospine (written by Lauren Uzdienski @ HealthPointCapital)
This week we attended Eurospine in Milan, and we came away noticing three trends.
- One, VCF technologies are continuing to generate a lot of interest, despite the damper the NEJM studies may have placed on these products in the U.S.
- Also notable was the increasing prominence of companies based in Asia, who may be playing more of a role in the EU market as cost containment and austerity measures affect hospital budgets.
- We observed U.S. companies using Eurospine as an opportunity to highlight their increasing international reach.
Many companies on the floor were displaying their VCF and kyphoplasty portfolios. Though we didn’t notice anything revolutionary in this sector, the conference did culminate with an announcement that Zimmer is entering the VCF space for the first time. Zimmer signed an exclusive agreement with Benvenue Medical to distribute the Kiva implant for the treatment of VCFs. The Kiva System percutaneously delivers a cylindrical PEEK-OPTIMA implant that is designed to “stabilize and provide structural support to the vertebral body and serve as a conduit for bone cement placement.” Benvenue received the CE mark for the Kiva System in 2008.
As reported last year, barriers to U.S. market entry are mounting. This has been attributed largely to the costs and delays associated with the FDA, and many U.S. manufactures are choosing to refocus their strategies outside the U.S. K2M alluded to this shift in their announcement about new international management hires. The company appointed a Senior Vice President of International and a Area Vice President, Latin America, stating in their press release that the company is undergoing “rapid global expansion.”
That’s all from the Eurospine floor, though our spine coverage is likely to pick up over the next few weeks: we’ll see you in Chicago on November 2nd.