By Mary Thibault
While many of their peers have turned toward technologies like robotics or to cost-saving offerings like value implants, it seems Zimmer plans to stay away from those hot trends, at least for now.
This is notable because some of Zimmer’s biggest competitors—Stryker, Smith & Nephew, and Johnson & Johnson—have either entered or announced plans to enter the robotic space. In addition, hospitals are supposedly looking for less expensive orthopedic implants, either as pared-down versions of higher-priced options, or by removing the service component from the purchase.
After prodding from analysts on the company’s April 30 earnings call, an executive discussed Zimmer’s stance on robotics. According to a Seeking Alpha transcript, James Crines, Zimmer’s chief financial officer, said:
“We have been developing technologies that we believe are smaller, cheaper, faster to bring about better clinical solutions and reproducible solutions in a cost efficient way…We don’t think that going backwards in procedure time for example for changing the work flow in a fundamental way is going to lead to better patient outcomes…”
A Stryker executive recently called the robotic Rio System, which came to the company through its acquisition of MAKO Surgical, an “investment” that should attract more patients to a hospital.
