Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1365724
56 DEVICES & IMPLANTS 10 details on Zimmer Biomet's plan to spin off spine, dental By Laura Dyrda Z immer Biomet announced plans on Feb. 5 to spin off its spine and dental units to focus more on its orthopedic and sports medicine units. Bryan Hanson, CEO of Zimmer Biomet, discussed details of the spinoff during the 2020 earnings call, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. Ten things to know: 1. e split creates two independent publicly traded companies: Zimmer Biomet, focused on orthopedics, and NewCo, focused on spine and dental. 2. Zimmer Biomet shareholders received NewCo shares. 3. e pro forma revenues from the business units comprising NewCo hit $1 billion in 2019 and $897 million in 2020. 4. Mr. Hanson expects NewCo to thrive as an independent com- pany with prioritized capital allocation to grow. As part of Zim- mer Biomet, spine and dental unit growth wasn't a priority. 5. NewCO will be led by Vafa Jamali, a former Medtronic execu- tive with more than 25 years of experience in the medical device industry. 6. At Medtronic, Mr. Jamali served as senior vice president and president of respiratory, gastrointestinal and informatics. He was responsible for the strategic direction, research and development, global execution and leadership of the business, which posted $3 billion in annual revenue and included 10,000 employees and 14 manufacturing sites. 7. Prior to Medtronic, Mr. Jamali was senior vice president and president of early technologies, which is a collection of early-stage companies focused on creating new standards of care to provide superior outcomes for diseases and conditions of the gastrointes- tinal tract, lung and liver. 8. Zimmer Biomet decided to spin off the dental and spine lines together because they include similar implant materials and scal- ability prospects. "Although there's not obvious reasons that you would look at from a strategic standpoint that those businesses would be together from a commercial perspective, there is a lot of capability and know-how and materials that are used for implants across dental as well as spine," said Mr. Hanson. 9. Zimmer Biomet projects the spinoff will be accretive to revenue by approximately 50 basis points over the course of its five-year strategic plan. 10. Zimmer Biomet expects the spinoff transaction to close in mid-2022. n Walmart exec joins Medtronic By Laura Dyrda M edtronic hired a Walmart executive to lead its global operations and supply chain. Geoff Martha, chair and CEO of Medtronic, post- ed on LinkedIn that Greg Smith, former executive vice president of U.S. supply chain at Walmart, joined Medtron- ic April 5 as executive vice president of global operations and supply chain. Mr. Smith developed and implemented Walmart's supply chain strategy to reduce costs and improve the working environment. He is responsible for the product flow, dis- tribution and fulfillment center operations and the com- pany's transportation functions. "Greg is a seasoned leader who brings the unique blend of operations and supply chain experience needed to help establish Medtronic as the undisputed leader in healthcare technology," Mr. Martha wrote. Before joining Walmart, Mr. Smith was senior vice presi- dent of global operations at Goodyear, where he oversaw 52 manufacturing facilities and four business units. n NuVasive to launch 2 clinical trials on spinal deformity surgery By Alan Condon N uVasive expanded its partnership with the In- ternational Spine Study Group Foundation and will participate in two clinical trials focusing on improving outcomes in adult spinal deformity surgery. One study will use physiology and laboratory data to as- sess the treatment of complex adult spinal deformity from a minimally invasive approach. The other is a prospective analysis of the safety profile, clinical and radiographic outcomes, and performance of NuVasive's VersaTie posterior fixation system. "This study gives us the opportunity to compare data to traditional open surgery, with the goal of informing bet- ter surgeon decision making to improve patient care and outcomes," Shay Bess, MD, president of the study group foundation, said in a March 15 news release. In 2015, the foundation signed a five-year partnership with NuVasive to compare clinical, radiographic and health-related quality of life outcomes between minimally invasive and open techniques for the treatment of adult spinal deformity. n