2007 AAOS Busy as Ever
BY ELIZABETH VARLEY CAMP, FEBRUARY 21, 2007
Sunny San Diego hosted this year's AAOS meeting, and with more than 470 exhibitors wall-to-wall on the Convention Center floor, it was the biggest Academy yet.
One of our cab drivers said, as we were driving away from the conference one evening, "biggest conference." We figured there were other very big conferences - auto; pharma - in the San Diego region so asked him which conference was the biggest in San Diego. He said, again, "biggest conference." He meant that AAOS was the biggest of the year. Orthopedics' time has come.
HealthpointCapital attended, soaking up innovation and analyst news. With exciting new product launches and trends around MIS, Biologics and Dental, AAOS 2007 will surely keep the industry buzzing for months to come.
On the Convention Center floor, Zimmer's floor footprint was enormous. Right behind them were DePuy, Biomet, Stryker and Smith & Nephew. It seems no expense was spared by any exhibitor.
This Academy saw a bunch of product launches, including Medtronic's The SYNERGY EXPERIENCE STEALTHSTATION System, which combines Navigational Procedural Solutions with Minimal Access Spinal Technologies (MAST™). Orthofix debuted two new internal fixation devices and an update on their FUSION® OA knee brace. Integra LifeSciences launched the TenoGlide™ Tendon Protector Sheet. We were especially intrigued by Zimmer's gender specific product line (see below), and Biomimetics' emerging biologics platform. Biologics generally was a stated area of growth and interest for many of the largest companies present.
We attended the Smith & Nephew Analyst Breakfast, where the Company announced a DTC initiative on the Supartz system as well as news on trauma outpatient spine. We also heard from Birmingham Hip Replacement recipient Cory Foulk, an ultramarathon athlete whose successful BHR got him back on the race circuit.
At the Stryker meeting, the big news was the appointment of Katherine Owen as Vice President, Strategy and Investor Relations. The Company celebrated their sixth straight year of double-digit sales growth as well as the Spring 2007 opening of an education and clinical research center in Mahwah, New Jersey.
The star of Zimmer's show this year is their successful gender knee, a concept that will be extended to an upcoming gender hip. Following on the announcement of their Endius acquisition, the Company announced plans to further expand into spine and dental, mostly through M&A. There are some biologics products in the pipeline to be launched in 4Q:07, the anticipated conclusion to a year that should see about 15 product introductions. No word yet on when Elliott is stepping down, and the search is ongoing for a CEO who will be a good fit for the Company, in particular its Warsaw, Indiana home base.
There was lots of talk of Kyphon's two blockbuster acquisitions this year - St. Francis Medical, and Disc-O-Tech, private equity's entry into orthopedics, with the Blackstone purchase of Encore, and the Warburg Pincus purchase of Tornier, and the Goldman Sachs/KKR/TPG/Blackstone $10.9 billion purchase of Biomet. There was much speculation about the prices paid for some of these deals, and the recent Zimmer/Endius deal. With orthopedics stocks up 20% over the second half of this past year, M&A activity will only continue in this consolidating industry.
This year's Academy gave us a terrific opportunity to hear from emerging companies, get the latest updates on established ones, learn about new products and gain insight into the trends that will shape the next few years. We're looking forward to what's to come.
