Pricing pressure and commoditization slows Soft Tissue Fixation Market but 2017 still finishes strong

SmartTRAK, the leading source of competitive life sciences intelligence used by the top ten global orthopedic & wound care companies, has published its 2017 US Soft Tissue Market Recap and Financial Dashboard.

Among the many topics covered in the Q417/FY17 Soft Tissue Fixation Market Recap are:

Taking on the orthopedic soft-tissue repair market with a novel, zip-tie inspired platform for knotless tissue repair and attachment

With the zip tie as inspiration, Sarasota, FL-based start-up Ziptek, LLC hopes to revolutionize the soft-tissue repair industry with a novel, self-locking, resorbable suture button for soft-tissue repair designed to facilitate natural tissue regeneration, strengthen the repair, and provide an alternative to knotless anchor devices in the US market for orthopedic soft tissue fixation, which is projected to reach over $1.8B by 2021E. 

Q317 Soft Tissue Fixation Market: Flat Growth vs Q217

The Soft Tissue Fixation Market saw flat QoQ growth in Q317, as a mix of supply chain issues, increasing competition, specialized sales forces and seasonality caused the major players to take one step forward and one step backward during the quarter.

By Kristina Meyer, Sr Analyst, Sports Medicine

Although soft tissue fixation growth in the US was up YoY, growth was nearly flat as compared with Q217. In a specialty where many surgeries are elective, seasonality plays a part. Case volumes often dip during summer months as both surgeons and patients take vacations. In contrast, case volumes typically rebound heavily in Q4 as deductibles renew the first of each year. Most of the major players in the soft tissue fixation market, including  Arthrex,  Smith & Nephew  (SNN),  Zimmer Biomet  (ZBH) and CONMED Linvatec (CNMD) took one step forward in Q317 and one step back.