Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Could This Be the Start of a Beautiful Relationship?

On Monday, March 8th it was announced that X-Spine and Gamma Spine had entered into a business relationship to develop and distribute a minimally invasive spinal fixation technology c0-invented by Vijay Goel, PhD, and Aaron Maytas (Aaron TSB will give you equal billing) a doctoral candidate at the University of Toledo.

This cage will act as a spacer. Dr. Goel expressed his enthusiam regarding partnering with X-Spine. Can the synergy between these two entities allow them to develop a less costly implant with a minimally invasive approach, only time will tell. But how can you go wrong with Dr. Goel on your side, he is one of the good guys in the industry. In addition, to this product, it was reported that Vijay (which means Victory) will be launching the Core Trainer in the early summer, an exercise and conditioning device for the core. Look out Christie Brinkley and Chuck Norris you've got some real competition coming your way. PS: Dr. Goel you can probably sell a few of them to some people in our industry. Good Luck!

8 comments:

  1. Hopefully this will represent some real innovation and not just another cage with some hype. That's the last thing the market needs right now.

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  2. Here! Here! You mean someone responded without making some crazy statement. Hallelujah

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  3. Rumor at AAOS is that Medtronic is in talks to buy Biomet? Anyone else heard this? Does this make any sense from a spine perspective?

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  4. It doesn't make a lot of sense from a spine perspective, as Biomet's spine line is weak compared to Medtronic. However, it is logical that MDT buy a full line orthopedic company to compete with Stryker, Depuy, Synthes and Zimmer in the broader market.

    I always thought it strange that MDT was such a leader in spine, which has always been considered part of the broader ortho industry, but did not have an entry in the core joint, trauma, or extremity markets. However, they would probably be be better off buying an innovative and growing complany like Tornier, than tired old Biomet. Perhaps MDT feels they can get Biomet, which still has reasonable market share, cheap.

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  6. Tornier is innovative and growing? their total shoulder is 15 years old and theres 10 other competitors, and their total ankle is semi contrained. i agree though that medtronic shouldnt spend big coin on a stabilized business like biomet.

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  7. MM, what is a "tenured industry professional"? In the sales world, no one is "tenured" unless you consider someone who owns their own company or distributorship tenured.

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  8. True TSB,, Dr. Goel is the man.
    Is his cage/spacer a posterior disc replacement? Or a fusion device?

    It seems the best interbody cages on the market have expandable characteristics- go in small and dial into to the best size.. What can be better than that? Motion preservation? Not in the US market..

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