SmartTRAK identifies trends to watch in Spine

By most accounts, the Spine market has stabilized with modest low single-digit growth expected this year. Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak agrees that the Spine market seems to have stabilized and is starting to inch back up. However, he suggests that it is still slower than a year or two ago as price declines are now offsetting procedure growth, resulting in flat to low single-digit to growth. For 2019, Needham analysts are modeling 2% spine market growth with overall orthopedic market growth of 3.4%.

Elise Wolf, SmartTRAK's Senior Analyst, Computer Assisted Surgery, will be representing SmartTRAK at CAOS International 2019, the 19th Annual Meeting of the  International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery, to be held in New York, June 19-22 at the Midtown Hilton.

Elise, with bachelor's and master's degrees in bioengineering, designed biologically inspired robots for the Department of Defense at a spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University. After robotics, she transitioned to the medical device industry and has more than 15 years of experience in product development, marketing, and business development consulting in emerging medical device technologies and orthopedics. Elise has worked with BioMedGPS since 2009 as a SmartTRAK Senior Analyst covering orthopedics and Computer-Assisted Surgery.

You can view Elise's intro video below...

As surgeries get pushed to later in the year, growth against easier comps does not signal market strengthening

The US Total Joints Market, which comprises approximately 55% of the global market, experienced stronger growth YoY, up+1.6% for Q119 compared to -0.8% in Q118, according to SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard. Growth also increased sequentially from Q418’s 1.5%.

The market benefited from easier comps against Q118’s nasty flu season which prompted hospitals across the US to postpone surgeries. But SmartTRAK does not believe the bump in growth in the face of easy comps signals a strengthening recon market. Looking back on a 2-yr basis, the market appears to have decelerated 50 bps which suggests an accompanying slow down in the number of procedures taking place early in the year. Wells Fargo’s Larry Biegelsen speculates that...

Among the many topics covered in the Q119 Total Joints Market Recap are:

SmartTRAK interviews Arthrosurface CEO Steve Ek about the Company’s newest shoulder system, the OVOMotion, and what differentiates it from other current and emerging shoulder systems

The orthopedic industry has sharpened its focus on value-based care. Health care providers are looking for technologies that maximize care, reduce costs and increase efficiencies, while patients are seeking affordable treatment options that will restore their function and improve their quality of life.

At the 2019 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting, Arthrosurface CEO Steve Ek, Dr. Greg Nicholson, Rush University Medical Center, and Dr. Anthony Miniaci, Cleveland Clinic, discussed the Company’s newest shoulder implant system, the OVOMotion stemless shoulder, and its value proposition for both health care providers and patients in an interview with SmartTRAK.

(This is Part 2 of SmartTRAK’s interview with Arthrosurface. Be sure to see Part 1 - "Arthrosurface Takes Aim at Patellofemoral Pain" - in which Arthrosurface discusses their new patellofemoral joint implant, the Wave Kahuna.)

Revenues down again, competitive pricing pressures remain, market is under FDA scrutiny

After a sluggish start of the year, the US Joint Fluid market gained steam during the quarter as demand and volumes picked up in several market segments in spite of intense competitive pricing pressures. Revenues were within SmartTRAK’s projected range with a marginal decline of -0.3% YoY according to the recently published SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard.

For Q119, the 3-injection segment accounted for 44.6%  of the US Joint Fluid market, followed by single-injection products at 41.5%, the 5-injection segment at 12.9% and rounding up the market with the 2-injection segment at 1.1%, according to SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard results. The single-injection segment showed good recovery from last year driven by increased adoption of newer products and/or sales expansion measures by some suppliers. The 3-injection segment was down in the low single digits during Q119 owing to continued and fierce pricing competition. The 5-injection segment showed no reprieve from its downward trend, declining...

Among the many topics covered in the Q119 US Joint Fluid Market Recap are:

Arthrosurface hopes to expand the market for joint arthroplasty with a novel patellofemoral arthroplasty implant and five-year data demonstrating long-term clinical benefits for treating patients with patellofemoral pain earlier in the treatment continuum, with evidence suggesting that it halts the progression of osteoarthritis (OA).

Today, many of these patients fall into a treatment gap. As much as 22% of the US population could be suffering from patellofemoral pain, according to a recent analysis of data from 23 studies. PLoS One Many orthopedic surgeons remain unconvinced that surgical management is of long-term benefit. Instead they choose to manage these patients with conservative treatment until they become candidates for joint replacement.

To find out more about the Company’s new patellofemoral arthroplasty implant, the WaveKahuna, and how it can address surgeon concerns about long-term clinical benefits, SmartTRAK interviewed Arthrosurface CEO Steve Ek, and Gregory Nicholson, MD, Rush University Medical Center at the 2019 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeon’s (AAOS) Annual Meeting held March 12-16 in Las Vegas, NV.

Med device giants are scooping up innovative technologies

The Spine market is bustling with activity so far this spring, with two notable acquisitions hot off the press.

Medtronic announced its acquisition of Titan Spine,  strengthening Medtronic's interbody position with Titan Spine's portfolio, which consists of a full line of titanium, surface-enhanced interbody fusion devices featuring Titan’s nanoLock surface technology. The acquisition is expected to close during Medtronic's first fiscal quarter ending July 26, 2019, although terms of the deal were not disclosed. Titan Spine currently markets its line of Endoskeleton interbody devices in the US, Europe and Australia. This acquisition further validates the shift in the interbody market from PEEK to porous titanium. Medtronic already offers interbodies manufactured from Ti-coated PEEK (Pure Titanium Coating or PTC) and just last year launched a titanium 3D printed platform – TiONIC Technology - that enables more complex designs and integrated surface technologies for spine surgery implants.

Sequential improvement despite tough comps, supply disruption and pricing pressure

BioMedGPS’s SmartTRAK Senior Analyst for Computer-Assisted Surgery, Elise Wolf, participated as an expert on robotics in a panel discussion entitled “Tech Talk: An Overview of the Growing Role of Additive Manufacturing and Robotic Surgery” at the ODT Forum (Orthopedics Device & Technology Forum) in Memphis, TN on April 11th. The panel, facilitated by Dawn Lissy, President of Empirical Testing, also included spine robotics entrepreneur Mitch Foster, CEO of Mindset Medical and former CEO of Excelsius Surgical, a surgical robotics technology company that was acquired by Globus Medical in 2013. Brian McLaughlin, CEO of Amplify, an additive manufacturing startup specializing in foot and ankle implants, and Chuck Hansford, Director of Advanced Materials Processing at Tecomet, participated in the discussion on additive manufacturing...

The top Sports Medicine competitors are making moves

The consolidation within the Sports Medicine market over the past four years has allowed several of the top players to build upon their growing portfolio and make moves within the market.  While Arthrex continues to lead with innovation, Smith and Nephew is focused on the healing capabilities within its shoulder portfolio.  New-ish CEO Namal Nawana has set the tone of acquisitions across all of SNN’s franchises to enhance SNN’s portfolio and fill gaps in their bag. Stryker is reaping the benefits of their acquisitions and becoming a viable competitor in the hip arthroscopy market.  Zimmer Biomet and CONMED appear to be making a comeback in the Sports market with strong leadership, consistency and a launch into new areas of Sports Medicine...

Among the many topics covered in the Q418/FY18 Soft Tissue FixationMarket Recap are: