Hips drive slight acceleration in TJR Market while Knees held steady

With two earnings seasons of 2019 behind us, US Total Joints Market growth of 1.7% for H119, as modeled by SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard, is trending below SmartTRAK projections of 2.6% growth for FY19. This trend is not surprising considering the heightened seasonality we’ve seen over the last few years in H2 due to high patient deductibles. US Total Joints Market growth strengthened slightly to 1.8% for Q219 compared to 1.6% in Q1 driven by...

Among the many topics covered in the Q219 Total Joints Market Recap* are:

Join SmartTRAK for breakfast and an Executive Panel on “Advanced Technologies: Shifts in the Spine Landscape” at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL on Sept 26th. A panel of experts will be on hand to discuss the latest in advanced technologies, interbody devices, materials and design, and the impact these changes pose from an FDA regulatory standpoint.

Date:              Thursday, September 26th, 2019
Time:              7:30am-8:30am
Location:      Hyatt Regency McCormick Place,  Chicago, IL
Room:            Jackson Park C&D

Panelists include:

Q219 saw marginal revenue growth amid single-injection momentum and competitive pricing pressure

The numbers are in and now that we are in the second quarter of 2019, the US Joint Fluid market seems to be getting off its slow-ish start of the year, gaining some momentum with the single-injection segment pushing the aggregate total revenue into positive growth, according to the recently published SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard. This, despite relentless and fierce pricing competition in the multi-injection arena. 

Among the many topics covered in the Q219 US Joint Fluid Market Recap* are:

SmartTRAK was once again cited as a trusted source for market data, this time in the Orthofix Q219 Earnings Call and press release.

Brad Mason, Orthofix's President and Chief Executive Officer, referenced the SmartTRAK Market Recap: OrthoBio Report in the press release and stated “Regarding the second quarter results, net sales were in line with our expectations, led by another quarter of outstanding performance in our Biologics products and notably, as reported by SmartTRAK ^®, Orthofix now has the number one market share position in the U.S. cellular allograft segment.”

SmartTRAK was cited once again as a trusted source for data in a press release from Smith & Nephew entitled "Smith & Nephew meniscal knee repair technology delivers 0% re-operation rate and 100% meniscal healing at six months shows first ever study of horizontal cleavage tears".

Robotic-assisted surgery was a hot topic of discussion at this year’s ODT Forum. SmartTRAK Senior Analyst for Computer-Assisted Surgery, Elise Wolf, participated in a panel discussion entitled “Tech Talk: An Overview of the Growing Role of Additive Manufacturing and Robotic Surgery,” along with Mitch Foster, CEO of Mindset Medical and former CEO and Co-Founder of Excelsius Surgical. The session was moderated by Dawn Lissy, President & Founder of Empirical Testing.

The discussion focused on current market dynamics and future directions in robotic platforms and other enabling technologies in orthopedic and spine surgery. An excerpt of the panel discussion is provided below.

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.)