Orthopedic News Roundup 06-Oct-05
BY HUYEN NGUYEN, OCTOBER 6, 2005
While Medtronic was the big winner this week, Wright Medical ("WMGI") captured more headlines with two important news items that have negatively impacted their stock price. On Wednesday, WMGI's stock price suffered a huge loss with 20% decline intraday due to its preliminary third quarter earnings announcement. For 3Q:05, the company estimated that total sales will be approximately $73.4 million, which was $4 million below the company's previous guidance. Net income for the quarter was estimated to be between $0.10 and $0.11 per diluted share. Domestically, WMGI's reconstructive joint and extremities product lines performed well with hips growing 15%, knees 13% and extremities 14%. However, biologics division continued to suffer and was estimated a 10% decline in sales for the quarter. Geographically, sales increased 7% domestically and 5% internationally as compared to 3Q:04.
Early Thursday morning, WMGI announced the resignation of Laurence Y. Fairey, the current President and CEO. The Board has named F. Barry Bays, the current Executive Chairman, as the interim President and CEO while the Company seeks a replacement. Mr. Fairey was elected President and CEO of WMGI in July 2004 and had been a director since January 2004.
Appointment: Alphatec Spine is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Stephen H. Hochschuler to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Hochschuler is a world-renowned spine surgeon who will bring his extensive expertise to Alphatec. Anika Therapeutics appointed Peter Litman, J.D. to the position of Vice President of Business Development. Previously, he was Vice President of Corporate Development in the Endoscopy division with Smith & Nephew PLC. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Axial Biotech announced that Mike McCaffrey, former Chairman of DePuy Spine, is joining the Company's Board of Directors. Axial is developing gene-based products by characterizing the genetic foundation of spinal disorders.
Business Update: Tutogen announced that effective December 31, 2005 its current U.S. manufacturing facility in Alachua, Fla. will be the Company's new headquarters. George Lombardi, the Company's current CFO has decided not to relocate to Florida, but will continue to serve as CFO until a successor can be replaced.
Clinical: At the Spine Center Berlin, a team of neurosurgeons led by Dr. M. Sabarini, implanted for the first time, co.don® AG's chondrotransplant® DISC into a patient who suffered from degenerative cervical disc disease. The DISC is a disc-derived chondrocyte transplantation (ADTC) where the patient's disc cell tissue is removed during a discectomy. This tissue is then grown ex-vivo, and then the autologous disc-derived cells are injected back into the patient's disc.
Legal: The lawsuit between Biomet and Medtronic ("MDT") continues with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. has vacated the lower court injunction and voided the summary judgment against MDT in the polyaxial screws patent infringement case with Cross Medical Products, a subsidiary of Biomet. This ruling will allow MDT to continue selling its CD HORIZON® LEGACY™ Screws in the spinal fusion market. The Appeals court has returned the case to the lower court in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California where it will be heard by the jury sometimes next year. In a separate litigation, MDT was awarded $51 million in a patent infringement case against BrainLAB AG involving four patents relating to image-guided surgical techniques and devices. BrainLAB is a well known surgical navigation technology company headquartered in Germany. Novamedix, a subsidiary of Orthofix International N.V. ("OFIX"), announced a settlement with Kinetic Concepts ("KCI") for a patent dispute involving Novamedix's A-V Impulse System® products line and KCI's PlexiPulse product line. KCI has agreed to pay Novamedix $75 million and offered options or license to certain KCI's foot pump patent rights, while KCI continues to sell its PlexiPulse deep vein thrombosis product line.
Product Introduction & Update: Medtronic introduces the CD HORIZON® SEXTANT® II System to the U.S. spinal fusion market. The system is a minimally invasive surgical instrumentation that delivers rods and screws percutaneously into the back of the patients. Smith & Nephew's Orthopaedics division is launching the MOBILAB™ Mobile Training Center for surgeons across the U.S. The MOBILAB™ is a tractor-trailer that has six-station, operating room style training facility and can hold up to 24 surgeons at a time for training sessions or product demonstration.
Miscellaneous: Some people are skeptical that spinal fusion actually helps reliving back pain and the high cost associated with it is worth the price. In the UK, the European Court of Justice has to resolve a case of a woman from Bedford who flew to France to get a hip replacement procedure and then forced the National Health Service (NHS) pay for her operation. Her claim was that the Bedford Primary Care Trust had put her on a year-long a waiting list which she could not afford to wait. The NHS is managed by the Department of Health in the UK, and is funded by tax payers to provide health services to the general public. Regeneration Technologies, LifeCell and CryoLife get notable mentions in this allograft article. The allograft industry is still growing and yet there aren't enough donors to fulfill the market. The OR-Live.com website is hosting the Zimmer® MISTM Anterolateral Hip Procedure today at 4PM MT.
