Tuesday, October 5, 2010

NuVasive and Globus: Let's Get Ready to Rumble?

It was reported today that NuVasive will be presenting clinical evidence this week at NASS to substantiate support of its XLIF procedure.  XLIF will be the subject of numerous podium presentations and E-posters.But the bigger news is that today, NuVasive announced that it has initiated patent infringement lawsuit against Globus Medical.  The lawsuits contends that Globus' lateral fusion offering instruments, implants and surgical technique sold under the trademarks TransContinental (how original), MARS (it must be out of this world), and LLIF (another stab at originality), infringes on NuVasives XLIF IP.

Come on down shoppers, and stop by Booth # 859, not only will there be a series of interesting presentations on XLIF, but Alex will be serving PETRUS with some goose liver pate, a variety of French cheeses and crackers.   Hopefully, someone will finally kick Globus' ass for allegedly stealing another company's IP.  Maybe Tony Soprano will pay David Paul a visit.

49 comments:

  1. Good luck getting the IPO with another big check to write out. Bleh! This Kool-Aid is starting to taste like a sh** sandwich!

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  2. I'm not usually a fan of NuVasive, but I find myself rooting for them in this fight. It's about time someone put the Globus thugs in their place. Synthes and Medtronic have both tried it, with Globus getting just a slap on the wrist. Hopefully Alex and company can finally deliver Globus the smackdown they so richly deserve. Announcing it on the eve of NASS was a thoughtful touch as well.

    Good luck Alex, you have many people in this industry (quietly) cheering for you.

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  3. What about their turnable integbody, the Signature? Think a few companies could file suit for that design, as well. Maybe instead of calling it Signature, they should have named it Forgery.

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  4. My two cents. Is the theft doesnt happen in america. The theft happens in india. To those who trial out of america. Track your equipment carefully, so this doesnt happen. This is globus claim to fame station sales reps in key international areas, when the scrub techs have there backs turned make out with the trays, and get on a flight to audubon.

    Globus is in the business of indoctrination, tells its employees that this is the way the game is played, everyone is doing it, blah blah, blah. Once an employee grasps this concept they are praised and promoted, the easier you make it for them to cheat, the more you are rewarded.

    David Paul once said, "First they mock me, Now they sue me"

    This is why Globus will never have an ipo and all buying into the promise of cashing in on there stock options are in for a world of hurt.

    Globus takes everything, they even have a 510k submission that even had the same typographical errors of synthes.

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  5. David Paul may end up saying; First they mocked me, then, they sued me, now, someone is going to kick my ass. If anyone has the cohonies to kick his ass, it's the Bear. Don't get caught by Lieutenant Aldo Raine of the spine industry and his side kick Hugo Stiglitz. TSB's advice to David Paul, sometimes a man meets his destiny on a road he looked to avoid.

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  6. The thing about Globus in there mind there all having one big party. This is all a game to reborn christains of globus medical. They just dont know when to turn off the lights and kick everyone out. I really feel sorry to the people employed and seeking employment at this company. You either shut the party down yourself or you take your chances with the law.

    The fact remains is that there needs to be someone with the sand to step up to globus.

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  7. Sometimes justice is sweet.

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  8. David Paul and his cronies have had this coming to them for a long time.
    Unethical, heartless bastards. They treat people like dogs and have no morals. They deserve exactly what they are getting.

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  9. @4:10 pm, you are correct about Globus rewarding those who drink the koolaid and turn into brain-washed robots. Dennis Booth best exemplifies this, he is a shell of the man he once was. Pitty.

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  10. Just think about what it takes to wake up and drive to Audubon every week day and be apart of what is completely thrashed on this blog. Do you think everyone at Globus is a part of the mafia?

    No. Some people go in that building with head barely held high, just waiting to see what ridiculous shit they will be asked to do.

    We all need to work some where and make a living. So, whether wrong or right, Nuvasive lets see what you got. You are going up against the fastest and most productive PD engine in the industry. Not one company out there can compete. They will eliminate what the issues with the patents are, by the time the lawsuit even gets under way, limiting the damages if any.

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  11. Looks like somebody has a Kool-aid mustache! The fastest and most productive defined as the most underhanded and unethical. Patents are already issued, pal, can't reset the papertrail. Plenty of companies can compete with globus, question is, without these companies and their IP, could globus compete? Not a fan of Nuvasive, either, but sounds like they may have the motivation to keep globus in their place. The payments globus has already made to Synthes and Medtronic are testimony to their way of operating.

    How long are these doctors going to keep waiting for the IPO so they can cash in on their consultant status earned shares? Will this case delay that milestone globus has been promising for the past few years?

    6:11, I don't feel bad for you, you should be walking in with your head held down. Get use to this, like it or not, DOJ will probably be knocking on the doors in Audubon. Time to clean up the business, start with the dirtiest. And wipe that damn Kool-Aid stain off your face.

    BTW, grammer police, globus doesn't need capitalization.

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  12. Like TSB says, it's time to kick Paul, Kinzle and Demskis ass. Maybe the DOJ should start out investigating those out of residency fellowship funding programs. Keep drinking the kool-aid boys cause they don't serve that in prison......

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  13. 6:11

    Don't give us the end of the day argument. Because your either the solution or problem. Thats the thing at globus is you don't work. You take shortcuts, and the heck with the consequences. This is why healthcare is in the crapper.

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  14. Well, we can all agree that the globus peeps learned from the best with the best at Synthes. How corrupt they must be? Hey MSD reps lets go to a nudy bar and stuff some cervical plates down a strippers thong.

    Norian. Michelson payout. Infuse? Killfuse. As far as I know a Globus product was never the cause of a patients death. Not many other companies can say that. Other companies have knowingly made the choice to lie and kill. But Globus is the worst. Can you sense the sarcasm?

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  15. Your lips must be blistered and your knees scrapped, I'll let you figure out the rest.

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  16. Tar and feather those screw offs!

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  17. 7:04 Guess whose name was on the infuse list of people of interest? ..... David Paul was. He put it into motion, just didnt get caught with holding the match. You want know what happened he got cold feet on microfuse the bio-resorable spacer. Something they were all set to release, then infuse dropped and put that horse to pasture.

    Wait till we see what comes from Xpand-r or any disc replacement that has globus name on it.

    Wait till transition really gets the investigation it needs.

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  18. 7:04

    Are you suggesting that Microfuse was being possitioned as a Pharmaceutical carrier? What ever happened to that product? As for patents, they dont matter to globus,if it breaks any IP then they just push it through their "specials" department. The rule is... no email,text, voicemail.... only voice to voice live communiction.

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  19. Hey 7:08, those aren't blisters on the lips of globus, think they are coldsores, though.

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  20. when are we going to talk about features and benefits instead of bashing things out of all of our control ???


    ha! jk.

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  21. Globus has paid for every stitch of business that it has in my territory (e.g. consultancies, studies, "buying" off competitive reps, hiring surgeon's kids and/or girlfriends). Every single one of their products are knock-offs. Heck, they even have a sales manager with the last name, "Crook". I bet they jumped for joy when they saw this guy's name on his resume during the interview process. I honestly cannot, for the life of me, see how these guys aren't all in jail at this point. Unbelievable.

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  22. I'm so glad to see Globus being put "in their place" with this lawsuit...rock on NuVasive.

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  23. Interesting, but not out of the norm for a stagnate industry. Tommorrow, Synthes will be suing Medtronic, and so goes life in the small world of Spine. To me, this speaks to the lax 510k predicate approval process. Heck, the FDA practically gives the lawyers a roadmap on who to sue "Globus's LLIF is substantially equivalent to XLIF"....

    In 2009 there were 7 IP lawsuits:

    1) 1st q 2009: Medtronic sues NuVasive for infringement on various patents for interbody fusion devices (look ma another XLIF lawsuit!)
    2) February: Alphatec files suit against Theken and X-spine for infringement on cervical plates.
    3) June: Depuy receives final judgement in Medtronic patentlitigation for its pedicle screw and awarded $179 million.
    4) July: Medtronic awared $2.1million from Globus Medical in litigation involving Pivot pedicle screw.
    5) August: Creative NeuroScience sues Innovative Spinal Technologies for patent infringement.
    6) September: Synthes sues Spinal Kinetics and Medtronic for infringement on their dics. Is awarded $21m from Medtronic litigation.
    7) September: Alphatec Spine settles with surgeons on royalty payments for pedicle screws.

    Seems the only folks making money anymore are the lawyers. They just sit back and let us fling mud at each other. Nice gig.

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  24. Now this guy has it. Imagine a world where everyone owned Fords, and could only use iphones. This world would be full of Bell telephones and Edison LED light bulbs. Now that is just silly.

    Just as silly as you whining ass bitches making excuses for your lost territory or maybe why your company could not turn a profit in 2010. By the way, Nuvy and Globus are the only major spine players to do so.

    Like I have said on this blog before. If they copied all this stuff, then why are doctors changing over? Oh, they pay every single surgeon opening a REVERE set to use it. Sha. Right. As if monkeys would fly out of my butt.

    I rest your whiny bitches case.

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  25. 4:07
    They change because they believe the BS that the reps spew. Any of the sturgeons I see switch are because they feel they are riding with the incoming tide. Unfortunately for them the tide is going out and small fish get eaten in the big sea.

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  26. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  27. This is hands down my favorite blog post to date, and the comments aren't too shabby either. Love me a wholesome globus pile-on.

    If I worked for that company, I would lobby to have the embarassing 510(k) 4:10 PM mentioned withdrawn, but I'd probably be duly fired for revealing an ounce of shame.

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  28. this is good stuff!
    ...SpineSeller

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  29. How funny that NuVasive's NEW product at NASS is a stand alone cervical cage. Globus has had one for, what, a year now? NuVasive thinks that they are the only company that can do lateral and that would be fine if THEY played by the rules. But they don't either. If I remember correctly, NuVasive is being sued by MSD right now for 12 patent infrengiments. And NUVA certainly pays surgeons left and right as well. Just because they have pretty colors, a briliant marketing team, and think that their pedicle screws are better than anyone else's doesn't mean that they aren't doing the same thing that all other companies are doing, including Globus. I can think of 25 surgeons right off the bat that are using NuVasive becuase they are being paid. NuVasive is copying everyone else's products right now (b/c they didn't have them) and then coming back and suing for their baby. I get it, but don't think that they aren't doing the exact some copying in San Deigo, because they are.

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  30. What is most interesting to me is the company that NuVa decided to go after. K2M, Depuy, MSD, they are all launching new MIS Lateral systems here at NASS and NuVa decides to go after Globus. When you get scared, you sue. I guess that Globus has taken away enought lateral market share that NuVa has decided it's time. I don't work for either company, but I do know of tons of surgeons that are going over to Globus because their retractor blows Nuva's away. And probably because they are getting paid. But that is how we do things in the elite Spine industry isn't it?

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  31. Seems like a lot of folks who couldn't cut it at Globus have embarked on second careers saying stupid sh$t on blogs. How do those sour grapes taste, boys?

    Anyway, where the heck did I leave my Kool-Aid.....?

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  32. So funny, nuva said a year or so ago when MSD sued them that it was a huge compliment. What now purple boys? Globus is taking it as a huge compliment and they are laughing all the way to the bank.

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  33. When you guys revised our prints to put "Globus" in the footer, was that one massive DCO or a bunch of smaller ones? Just curious...

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  34. You are so jealous that we are taking so much away from YOU that you can't stand it. When you revised your lit for your stand alone cervical cage, was it easy to change the red and blue to purple, I bet it was. Give me a break dude. IF your shi*t is so much better than anything anyone else is coming out with, then you shouldn't be worried. But you are. :)

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  35. Seriously....this whole website is an absolute joke. Musculoskeletal Man?!?! Nice name, dork. You all sound like a bunch of kids who just want to gossip & stir the pot. Oh, nice heading on the home page..."where things can be discussed in a professional manner." I have read nothing but direct slander of sales reps & SURGEONS..what audacity to call someone out by their name...real professional. Sounds to me like the majority of you are pissed off, unsuccessful reps who have no business & are good at one thing...complaining because you suck at what you do.

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  36. 3:44....misplaced your Koolaid? Try looking on the shelf in between your thrice postponed and never going to happen IPO and DP's compromised ethics. Bottoms up!

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  37. speaking of IPOs, has anybody heard any rumors as to when Globus may offer such?

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  38. Sorry, that IPO ain't gonna happen!

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  39. IPO's require due diligence. Due diligence is supposed to look at the books. It may be overlooked if one or two of these are missing, but when say half the administration is not there, or can't be read in daylight, even investment bankers know they should back away.

    Disclaimer: The above statement does not reflect actual historic events, nor does it predict nature and scope of future events. Any similarities to existing businesses is purely coincidental.

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  40. Very intersting posting. I will try to be more professional than some of you clowns and avoid spelling errors.

    Let me get this straight. Company X sues Company Y. Company X has been sued multiple times (and lost) but now they are pitching rather than catching so they are sterilized of all previous litigation issues and absolved of all previous guilt?

    The NUVA suit is nothing more than political bullshit equivalent to an "October Surprise" we see coming out of Washington and most of the elections across the country. Apparently NUVA sent out the press release before their paperwork was even done but would be perfectly timed for NASS....cute trick, not much more should be expected from a company that has headquarters in California.

    NUVA's problems are two pronged. First, NUVA is getting peppered from all different directions...MDT, Depuy, SYN (ORACLE and Pangea are CRAP), GMI, Alphatec.....who DOESN'T have a lateral system now? (STRYKER doesn't!) Second, NUVA got greedy and started telling surgeons and hospitals "You can't use Neurovision unless you use our implants" and vice-versa. I know 4 docs that have told NUVA to pound sand and switched to either Oracle or GMI.

    Lets give credit where credit is due. MDT has a decent system, but with limitations. The Depuy retractor looks decent, and the Alphatec retractor has some cool looking (although clinically difficult to utilize) features and angulation capabilities, but the real winner in this has been GMI. I have seen dozens of these cases from across the room from the different companies reps and can tell you without a doubt that the GM retractor and system is very slick and much easier to use than the cases I have watched with MDT or SYN. NUVA seems to have a small advantage in experiance, but that mostly comes in the form of having screwed something up in the past or having already made a custom instrument to take care of a shortcoming. From what I understand, GM can customize better than anyone and do it faster than anyone. Most of the doc's I work with have said that GM is the fastest at getting a custom instrument into their hands that they have ever seen.

    When I asked a surgeon friend why he switched from NUVA to GM, his only response was "Its better, plain and simple. The lighting is better, the angulation of the blades is better and control I have is outstanding".

    NUVA went after the one company they believe is the real threat to their lateral business....Globus. With more hospitals going to internal neuromonitoring and 3rd party neuromonitoring companies, the 2 legged stool that NUVA has for a sales seat is going to get even rockier if they start losing implant business as well. Globus has done more to take business away from NUVA than any other company I have seen. Face it, its smart for NUVA to send out the bitches....I mean lawyers...early and try to tear down the only real competitor in their eyes.

    Say what you want, but the GM guys and gals in my area are solid folks and the only guys playing games and throwing mud are the MDT, SYN and NUVA guys that are loosing business.

    I know the docs in my area very well, unlike you guys, I am in every case (hardware or not) and I know that the docs using GM are not consultants, just pissed off or tired of the games from SYNTHES, MDT, DEPUY, ZIMMER, STRYKER, and NUVASIVE.

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  41. Just got back from NASSty and was sorely dissappointed. Off subject, but what is TSB thoughts on the shady little outfit called NOC2? I heard they were paid $150k by Orthofix to present to 40 "in-network" surgeons over dinner. Seems like a compliance nightmare.

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  42. An interesting report on the Nuvasive v. Globus Medical lawsuit.

    http://patentlyobvious.m-cam.com/blog/?p=279

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  43. It is so funny to read this string, now that it is past Nuva's black friday. "Its all quiet on the Western front". Hey Alex! Those who live in glass houses, should not play with rocks. So glad you got knocked down a few pegs. So sorry you have to spend time with us common folk, down here on earth. Meanwhile, I will keep working and taking your key surgeons.

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  44. $60 Million!!!! Ouch Alex! thats gonna take a few bottles out of your vast wine cellar!

    Kiss my freckled butt NUVA! you are getting what you deserve after all the crap you have pulled over the years!

    Go Globus! Hows that stock slump taste boys!

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  45. I AM NOT A REP !! (said with a Nixon tone)

    It would only take a 5 minute phone call from the right whistle-blower to the FDA to shut Globus down for good. I am on the inside and believe me, its bad.

    How many times can you change a print without changing the rev? Once? Twice? All of you reps out there do not know the half of it. I have witnessed this countless times. And as far as the Kool-Aid goes, I am not a drinker!

    Not counting on stock options either...

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  46. I use to work at Globus (inside) and I left without evening having a job...it's that bad. Sales don't know what goes in house. They do what thier ADs tell them, the ADs do what the VPs tell them to do and Kienzle orders the VPs around. The funny thing is Kienzle has no power, and is stupid. He has his right hand man RW do it all for him..and RW is stupid for allowing it. Kinzle is out of the office more then he is in, too busy sleeping off all those pain killers he takes.

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  47. Guys, a screw is a screw is a screw.... depending on where you live, lol. With more than 20 spine companies in the country I make my living in, they all look very much the same... (the screws as a example)

    If a surgeon starts using my product, because he respects my knowledge, service levels and the user friendlyness of my instruments, does that mean he is being paid to do so?

    I think the lawsuits will be part of this industry, and all companies are guily when it comes to patents and bringing out (copied) or improved implants or ideas. It is part of life, not just spine.

    If I think of the internal bullsh$t in all companies mentioned above,mmmmm... all are guilty... ALL. I worked for 3 of the above mensioned companies. If this is not your game, go sell icecream... wonder who has a patent for vanilla?

    Sorry for spelling, I am not english.

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  48. @12:43-heard Kienzle was fired last week. Murphy in charge of sales for now.

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