Becker's Spine Review

32 DEVICES & IMPLANTS Medtronic in 2021: 10 key developments By Alan Condon F rom a new leader of its spine division to the expansion of its minimally inva- sive portfolio and the development of an innovation campus in the U.S., here are 10 key updates from Medtronic in 2021: 1. On Jan. 4, Harry "Skip" Kiil became pres- ident of Medtronic's cranial and spinal tech- nologies operating unit. For the last three years, Mr. Kiil has been president of global orthopedics at Smith+Nephew, where he was responsible for the company's reconstructive arthroplasty, robotics, trauma and extrem- ities businesses. He also held several leader- ship roles at Stryker, where he worked for 12 years. 2. Medtronic's cranial and spine technologies division saw a slight revenue decrease in the second quarter of the 2022 fiscal year, and the company earned $7.8 billion in total revenue. "Our second quarter results reflect focused execution of our strategy and the strong un- derlying health of the business, despite the market impact of the pandemic resurgence and healthcare system staffing challenges on medical procedure volumes, particularly in the U.S., which affected our quarterly revenue growth," CEO Geoff Martha said. 3. In October, Medtronic announced that it will no longer distribute Aziyo Biologics' cel- lular bone matrix products. e move came aer Aziyo's FiberCel product was recalled aer several patients who received it tested positive for tuberculosis. Multiple lawsuits were filed on behalf of patients who allegedly were sickened or died from a tainted product. 4. Medtronic's Mazor X robotic guidance system launched in Canada in October. Medtronic acquired Mazor Robotics for $1.7 billion in 2018, as part of its plan to inte- grate its spinal implants, navigation and 3D imaging technology with Mazor X, which launched in the U.S. in 2019. 5. Medtronic announced three additions to its minimally invasive spine surgery portfolio in September. e Cataly PL and PL40 are part of the Cataly expandable interbody system, and the Space-D access system enables ped- icle screw-based distraction, retraction and compression. 6. In September, Medtronic enrolled its first patient in a clinical trial for its Braive growth modulation system for scoliosis. Braive is Medtronic's latest pediatric spine device and uses a braid secured to the spine to slow the growth of the curved side of the spine. e study includes patients in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. 7. e company broke ground on a 400,000-square-foot innovation campus in Lafayette, Colo., in June. e company aims to move about 1,100 research and develop- ment and administrative employees from its Boulder and Louisville, Colo., facilities into the new location by the end of 2022. 8. Medtronic is doubling down on data, ar- tificial intelligence and machine learning, la- beled "the new frontier for medtech," by Mr. Martha. Medtronic is focused on collecting datasets and developing algorithms. "We are doing this in spine with our recent acquisi- tion of Medicrea and its use of data and AI in preoperative planning to create personalized spine implants," he said. 9. e National Institutes of Health awarded Medtronic and the University of Louisville (Ky.) a $7.8 million grant to study epidural stimulation for the treatment of spinal cord injury in March. Medtronic is working with scientists from the university to develop so- ware applications for spinal cord injury that integrate with its Intellis spinal cord stimula- tor system. e project will focus on develop- ing technology to improve control of locomo- tor and bladder function. 10. Medtronic's patient-specific UNiD Rods were cleared for use with several spine systems that include rod, hooks, screws and interbody fusion devices. e UNiD rods are pre-bent before surgery to match a preoperative plan created with artificial intelligence technology, which is designed to precisely align patients' spines and reduce the risk of malalignment and associated revision surgeries. n 2 analysts cast doubt on Globus Medical's NuVasive grab By Carly Behm T wo financial analysts predict Globus Medical's poten- tial deal to acquire NuVasive probably won't happen, Seeking Alpha reported. Piper Sandler analyst Matt O'Brien said the acquisition was unlikely to materialize because Globus Medical tends to pay "modest" prices for assets, according to a Nov. 15 report. He also noted that turnover in the sales personnel of the target company can make acquisitions in the spine space problematic. "We do believe NuVasive is undervalued, the addition of Simplify would be welcome at Globus Medical and the management team at Globus would likely be able to pull a ton of costs of the combined entity; but, at the end of the day, we simply do not see it happening," Mr. O'Brien said in the report. Bank of America analyst Craig Bijou pointed to different corporate cultures at NuVasive and Globus Medical in a Nov. 16 report. Mr. Bijou said the NuVasive acquisition was unlikely because spine deals have a "tough" track record of integrations. "We also do not think that adding a slower-growth, low- er-margin business to gain scale would be a good use of Globus Medical's nearly $1 billion in cash," he said in the report. Initial rumors of the acquisition led to a 9 percent jump in NuVasive's stock Nov. 15. n

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