Q218 Joint Fluid Recap: Overall Market Lower

Volume Up, Pricing Down, Overall Market Lower

Now that Q218 results are in, the US Joint Fluid market continued to experience downward pressure posting negative growth of -6.5% for the quarter and -4.0% YTD, according to SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard results ...

While suppliers generally reported an increase in unit sales, ASPs were impacted by hefty rebates from last year. The Anthem decision continues to bear down hard on this market with a few companies reporting a perception among orthopedic surgeon prescribers that HA injections for knee OA are no longer covered by insurance. While some payors are questioning use of this therapy, no major carrier with exception of a few smaller insurers have followed Anthem’s suit—yet.

Among the many topics covered in the full Q218 Joint Fluid Market Recap are:

• Volume Up, Pricing Down 
• Overall Market Lower
• Major Segments are Down
• 3-Injection Market Negative
• Further Declines in 5-Injection Segment
  

All Major Segments Down

Across the board, all major segments of the Joint Fluid market took a hit in Q218. (Interestingly, Fidia has started to gain traction with Hymovis, a 2-injection product, which more than doubled in sales during the quarter). Even though the migration continues to lower the number of injection products, this was the second quarter that the once high-flying single injection segment posted negative growth