It's Time to Take Off the Gloves!

AT 2:51 EST, Reuters reported that shares of Orthovita fell as much as 33% as a result of the recent NIH funded study questioning the clinical efficacy of vertebroplasty. Management for the company disputed the conclusions in the study and continue to stand by their financial forecast for Cortoss (Kudos to Koblish et al). Sometimes when your back is against the wall one has to dig in their heels and kick some *#$!

One must ask the government, the NIH and Medicare, is their objective to utilize the $1.1 billion that was allocated for research, to invalidate certain medical procedures? Will the government begin rationing healthcare? What bothers the Spine Blogger even more so is how the market reacts to some junior analysts observations. Just because someone questions whether Medicare reimbursements will be effected for vertebroplasty doesn't mean its going to happen. Shame on you Wall Street!

More information is needed before anyone can pass judgement on this procedure. There are reports that they study only had 100 patients involved. If so, the FDA requires four times as many patients in an IDE to validate a product. What gives? Like one of our Spine Doc bloggers stated, this procedure is all about patient profiling. Hopefully, Orthovita stays focused and does not sway from their strategy, like the Phoenix the price of their stock will rise again! The Spine Blogger wants to know what you think?