Time for Elective Surgery! | 2020 Extremity Acquisitions | FAN Updates | Webinars
Time for Elective Surgery!
If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. Most of the time, I would say that foot and ankle care has allowed us to fulfill this motto. There are exceptions and ups and downs. The complications and headaches that make us lose sleep. But for the most part, our careers are fulfilling. We are able to tackle some serious problems and make them better. Often much better.
During the pandemic? Not so much. Lack of surgery has been tough but maybe even tougher are the slow office days. It is a bad sign when the office staff has lunch money riding on who will show up each week with the most unusual “home gym” injury. How is it even possible to fall off a treadmill? Maybe I am just too slow.
Some of us have already started operating electively again and others are on the verge of getting back in the game. Patients waiting and ready to move forward with their recovery and improve their lives. New compilation discussion of COVID-19 exposure risk benefit profile. Post op telemedicine consults with patients who do not know how to turn on their microphones or cameras. Internet connectivity problems because the whole household is on the same bandwidth and the kids are binge streaming whatever is listed on top this week on Netflix.
I can deal with it all. We can make it work in this new world. But thank you for letting me get back in the game and start helping our patients get better again. Time for elective foot and ankle surgery.
2020 Extremity Acquisitions
CONVENTUS ACQUIRES FLOWER
( PRESS RELEASE )
Last week Coventus Orthopedics signed terms to acquire Flower Orthopedics. Founded in 2012, Flower became one of the first companies to bring sterile-packaged, foot and ankle implant kits to the US market. Flower has built a line of basic foot and ankle implants for most indications. Recently, the company’s focus has shifted to the in-office amniotic market, where they are looking to compete with market leader MiMedx .
Coventus, an upper extremity company, currently offers a novel expandable fracture cage indicated for proximal humerus and distal radius fractures. In the press release, Dr. Roy Sanders hints at a lower extremity cage in development. Prior to picking up Flower, they also recently acquired the Intrafuse fibular nail from Surgical Frontiers. It will be interesting to follow how this plays out for Coventus and the Flower line over the next year. Will sterile implants ever gain widespread acceptance at these ASC’s? Can these guys break through and become a player in the amniotic market?
ANIKA THEREPUTICS AQUIRES BOTH ARTHROSURFACE AND PARCUS ( PRESS RELEASE )
In January, there was another deal that went a little under the radar. Anika , “a biomedical joint preservation company”, known for their injectable HA treatment Orthovisc , acquired both Arthrosurface and Parcus Medical . Most know of Arthrosurface, but many may not know much about Parcus. Parcus is a sports medicine company started by an ex- Arthrex VP in 2010. Their product line consists of suture anchors and tenodesis screws. This combination seems to make a lot of sense, joint preservation and sports medicine go hand in hand. Seems like they are setting themselves up to go after the soft tissue giant down in Naples.
WHO'S NEXT?
While the deals we just covered may not be considered blockbusters, they are relevant given the times and the uncertain future ahead for a lot of the players in the foot and ankle space. With elective surgeries grinding to a halt for nearly two months now and still a long road back to “normal,” it would lead one to believe that more disruption within the market is likely. Will one of these innovative, pure play extremity companies who are currently burning cash be forced to sell sooner than they anticipated? Who is going to be a buyer after all of this and when will they strike? It is hard to say at this point. One thing is certain, the longer the COVID slowdown goes on, the more leverage the cash rich will have. Stay tuned!
Yesterday, Arthrex announced its launch of www.anklesprain.com and it got us thinking about how Foot and ankle companies are using these platforms to help drive patients to users of their products.
Upcoming Corporate Webinars
Another solid batch of webinars this week. Companies please let us know where we can find the replays for those who can't watch live. We will post them here and on the website.
Webinars listed by date/time.
OSSIOfiber- Bio-Integrative Implant Fixation
Thursday – May 7th @ 5pm ET
Speakers –Dr. Luke Cicchinelli and Dr. Christopher Hyer
Live webinar to discuss the science behind OSSIOfiber Intelligent Bone Regeneration Technology, the first-in-human clinical study results, their clinical experience with the first commercial product, and the vast pipeline of foot & ankle fixation products.
REGISTER HERE
Wright Medical - TAR: EXPANDING PATIENT CRITERIA
Thursday – May 7th @ 7pm ET
Speakers – Dr. Hodges Davis, MD and Dr. Jeremy McCormick, MD
Interested in expanding your total ankle replacement practice? Contact your Wright Sales Rep today to register for this live webinar to learn how.
Treace Medical - Lapiplasty
Thursday - May 7 @ 8pm ET
Speaker: Paul Dayton, DPM
Learn why the patented system was developed, how it’s been refined with over 5 years of focused innovation, and understand the supporting science behind the 13 Lapiplasty® publications.
TO REGISTER EMAIL MedEd@treace.com
Amniox - Extremity Recon and Trauma, and Complex Wound Care Management
Saturday May 9, 2020 8:00 AM - 10:30 AM CDT
Speakers:
Mark Gould, MD
Allen Raphael, DPM
Ryan Putnam, MD
Jeffrey Haupt, DPM
Platform Science of Cryopreserved Umbilical Cord and its Applications in Foot and Ankle Recon, Umbilical Cord: A Lifeline to Regenerative Healing, Cryopreserved Umbilical Cord in Foot and Ankle Trauma, and CLARIX and NEOX CORD 1K in Surgical Applications and Wound Care Management, followed by a live Q&A with the faculty.
REGISTER HERE
Nova Step - Percutaneous Techniques in Hallux Valgus Correction.
Saturday – May 9 @ 11am ET
Speakers: A. Holly Johnson MD & Oliver Schipper MD
REGISTER HERE
MedShape - DynaNail Mini
Monday - May 11 @ 7pm ET
Speakers: Drs. Kent Ellington, MD Terrence Philbin, DO and Josh Hunter, MD
An overview of the DynaNail Mini and how they have adopted the device into their clinical practice.
REGISTER HERE
In2Bones - Uncomplicating the Lapidus
Wednesday – May 13th @ 5pm ET
Speaker –Lawrence A. DiDomenico, DPM, FACFAS, FACFAOM, CWS
REGISTER HERE
If you have an upcoming webinar or event you would like to promote, please contact us at footandanklenews@gmail.com
FAN Updates
THANK YOU - Thank you for all the positive feedback, we appreciate all of you who are reading our newsletter. Each week we will do our best to bring interesting foot and ankle information to your inbox. All of our past entries can be found at www.footandanklenews.com
FAN BATTLES –96% of respondents to last week’s poll want to see some implant battles. We will see what we can do to make that happen. Thanks to those Doctor’s interested in participating in a battle, we will reach out in the near future to get your thoughts on format.
SPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES – We have received a lot of interest in sponsorship opportunities, we our working to figure out how best to handle that aspect of the newsletter. The preliminary plan is to feature one sponsor per week that will allow those readers who are interested to “opt in” to receive more information on the product from the sponsoring company.
