Cartilage Repair: The Next Wave in Orthopedics

 Article preview from Medtech Insight - January 1, 2011

The musculoskeletal sector continues to be bogged down by the economic downturn, and particularly hard hit is the industry's largest segment: the $13 billion total joint market. Companies are now scouting out the next technology wave in orthopedics, and the record attendance at the recent International Cartilage Repair Society meeting may be one indication of where the action will be for some time to come.

Cartilage Repair: The Next Wave in Orthopedics

Article preview from Medtech Insight - January 1, 2011

The musculoskeletal sector continues to be bogged down by the economic downturn, and particularly hard hit is the industry's largest segment—the $13 billion total joint market. Acroßs the board, leading total joint manufacturers (Biomet Inc., DePuy Inc./Johnson & Johnson, Smith & Nephew Inc./Smith & Nephew PLC, Stryker Corp., Wright Medical Technology Inc./Wright Medical Group Inc., and Zimmer Spine/Zimmer Holdings Inc.) report that implant prices continue to soften and procedural volumes remain slow. In fact, current market conditions, along with a lack of disruptive joint replacement technologies on the horizon, have many questioning whether the total joint industry has seen its best days. Companies are now scouting out the next technology wave in orthopedics, and the record attendance at the recent International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) meeting, held in September in Sitges, Spain, may be one indication of where the action will be for the time to come.

With 1,100 researchers, scientists, and company representatives from 65 countries in attendance at ICRS, along with 40 industry partners on the exhibit floor, the cartilage repair market has taken center stage, and for good reason. Technologies that repair, regenerate, or protect the cartilaginous surface of joints and stave off the degenerative proceßs may offer patients with pain and impaired mobility due to osteoarthritis an earlier and leßs-invasive alternative to end-stage procedures such as joint replacement. And, although research in the field of cartilage repair has progreßsed slowly over the past two decades, new regenerative technologies are now spurring a renaißsance in the field.

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