Becker's Spine Review

19 DEVICES & IMPLANTS Stryker CEO Kevin Lobo: The hospital OR is no longer 'the center of our universe' By Angie Stewart D uring the Virtual MedTech Conference hosted by AdvaMed Oct. 5-7, medical device industry leaders reflected on how COVID-19 has affected healthcare volumes and reshaped future strategy. ree insights from panelists, as reported by Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry: 1. Bill Hawkins, retired CEO of Medtronic and chair of the board at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C. "Honestly, I would not have expected things to have rebounded as quickly as they have, but we [at Duke University Hospital] are about 102 percent of prior year volume. A number of those cases are backlog cases, and we expect to work through the end of the backlog prob- ably about the end of October. We had about 7,000 cases backlogged due to COVID-19. At the same time, with the amount of new cases coming in, we think that by the end of October/November timeframe, we could be back to 100 percent of where we were pre-COVID-19." 2. Tom Polen, president and CEO of BD: "Exiting June, we saw interventional procedures at 80 percent. In July, we saw that go up to 85 percent, and you could see that vary by acuity of the procedure." Hernia surgery and peripheral vascular disease procedures were among the procedures with more robust volumes, while screening-based procedure volumes have been low- er, Mr. Polen added. 3. Kevin Lobo, CEO of Stryker: "We're tracking north of 80 percent [of 2019 levels]" for procedure volumes in the spine surgery realm. "ere is a monumental shi that will occur over the next decade of procedures moving out of the hospital toward surgery centers. is is already a movement that had started prior to the pandemic, and it's just accelerating tremendously. "... We've had to change our company. e center of our uni- verse was the hospital operating room, and you cannot show up the same way to a surgery center with 22 sales reps all calling on the surgery center. ey're not able to receive that. I think the medtech companies that are in the hospital OR as the center of gravity have to change their approach and really have a different offense for their surgery centers. It's a big change for us." n Johns Hopkins surgeons awarded $13M+ to develop ultrasound devices for spinal cord injury By Alan Condon T he Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded $13.5 million to neurosurgeons and engineers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., to devel- op devices for patients with spinal cord injuries. The devices will use ultrasound technology to help physicians monitor and treat changes in blood flow and prevent tissue death that occurs after spinal cord injuries. Nicholas Theodore, MD, professor of neurosurgery and bio- medical engineering, and Amir Manbachi, PhD, assistant pro- fessor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins, are tasked with bringing the technology to human use within five years. Their goal is to optimize the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the spinal cord by using ultrasound technology to stimulate blood vessels and tissue at the site of injury. Researchers believe this can prevent further damage to the spi- nal cord, which can result in increased inflammation and pain and worsening paralysis. n Device company reports 1st US clinical cases of vertebral fracture implant By Alan Condon F rench orthopedic device company Hyprevention on Oct. 12 announced the completion of the first U.S. clinical cases of its V-Strut Vertebral Implant to treat vertebral fractures. Four things to know: 1. Douglas Beall, MD, chief of radiology services at Clinical Ra- diology of Oklahoma in Edmond, selected two elderly patients with osteoporosis and severe pain to receive the implant. 2. V-Strut is indicated for the treatment of vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis or bone metastasis in the thoracic and lumbar spine. 3. The implant is designed to share the load between the verte- bral body and the pedicles. 4. Hyprevention has begun the commercialization process for the implant in the U.S. n

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