Total Ankle Replacement Sparks New Race

Article preview from IN VIVO - June, 2013

Orthopedic companies now target the so-called extremities as an area of capable of producing double-digit growth in sales. To be sure, the markets are considerably smaller than hips or knees, but multinational leaders can’t ignore untapped potential when their core markets are stagnant, and a new front is forming in the battle for foot and ankle supremacy around an old but still underutilized device – total ankle replacement implants.

 

Total Ankle Replacement Sparks New Race

Article preview from IN VIVO - June, 2013

Orthopedic companies are being forced to search far and wide for markets with true growth potential. Established orthopedics companies Stryker Corp. and Smith & Nephew PLC have set up businesses in emerging market countries including China, India, and Brazil and in some cases have bolstered their presence through the acquisition of domestic companies. Even Medtronic Inc., which sells only spine devices in the US and Europe, jumped into China’s orthopedics industry with the acquisition of China Kanghui Holdings in 2012.

But the search for growth isn’t limited to far off lands. Orthopedic companies like Stryker, Zimmer Holdings Inc., and Wright Medical Group Inc. for a long time now have targeted the so-called extremities as an area of orthopedics capable of producing double-digit growth in sales. To be sure, the markets are considerably smaller than hips or knees, but multinational leaders can’t ignore untapped potential when their core markets are stagnant.

Orthopedic companies are loading up on screws, plates, and even biomaterials like BioMimetic Therapeutics Inc.’s Augment bone graft, acquired by Wright  or other related products, as Stryker did via its purchase of Memometal Technologies SA, which it’s using to flesh out a comprehensive line of foot and ankle reconstruction tools. But a new front is forming in the battle for foot and ankle supremacy around an old but still underutilized device – total ankle replacement implants.

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