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Issue Date: February 10, 2022 |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
This week we have some breaking news, announced today…CrossRoads sold to J and J. We give you our take and the questions surrounding the acquisition. Also, a big product launch from Medline UNITE with a first of its kind Nitinol product, and we take a quick look at the companies who are innovating in the online direct to patient bunion market.
Finally, we award our second Social Media Golden Saw Bone Award.
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As always, thanks for reading, we are extremely grateful for our FANs.
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This week we have:
- Breaking News - DePuy Synthes Aquires CrossRoads
- Golden Sawbone of the Week - Social Media Edition
- New Product Release - Medline Dynamic Disc
- Bunion Wars - Direct-to-Patient Marketing
- PodiatryMeetings.com Calendar of Events
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CrossRoads Aquired by DePuy Synthes |
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Heading into ACFAS we have some big news on CrossRoads Extremity Systems.
We knew it was going to happen, it was just a question of where they were going to land. J and J received a much-needed upgrade in technology and flash to their foot and ankle line, but is this move going to make Depuy Synthes a real player in foot and ankle?
There are a lot of questions:
1) Remember BME? – The last time Depuy Synthes purchased an up and coming nitinol company, the innovation stopped. A hammer toe and a staple and then nothing! Is this a foundational new start for foot and ankle, or a BME replay?
2) Who will represent the line? – Depuy Synthes hired a dedicated foot and ankle team a few years ago, paying big money for well established Wright Medical reps to sit out for a year. Ultimately, they ended up folding on the F&A experiment and fired the new hires a couple years later or transitioned them into trauma reps. Are the trauma reps going to take over and hire sub-reps to handle the foot and ankle? A new dedicated team being created?
3) Crossroads Existing Business? – CrossRoads is carried by a variety of extremities distributors across the country. A massive percentage of their sales is tied to these distributor relations as well as consultants pumping in Crossroad’s product. When Wright Medical bought Solana in 2014 for 90 million dollars, much of the existing doctor consultant business went away overnight, and Wright was left with a pretty expensive staple and allograft hammertoe.
Buying a company like this for a multiple of sales is not always a slam dunk. Hopefully Depuy Synthes has a plan to move this forward and be looked at as more than a trauma company that has foot and ankle stuff on the shelf if you need it in a pinch. It will be interesting to see where they go with this. Good luck with this acquisition, we will follow up with financials and terms of the deal when they are released. Here is the press release from Health Point Capital.
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GOLDEN SAWBONE OF THE WEEK
Social Media Edition
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Jeffery Earhart, MD has a collection of cases displayed on his Instagram page that make me thank God I am not a trauma surgeon.
Dr. Earhart presents thought provoking cases that examines his surgical planning process and seeks feedback from his followers. While the cases may not all be related to foot and ankle, his account is full of train wrecks that provide insight we all can learn from and is without a doubt worthy of a GSA!
Congrats Dr. Earhart!
This week @dr_earhart_trauma digs into a case with the following presenting “problems”: Tib/Fib Nonunion, Unfused TT, ST, Ankle Deformity, Broken Hardware, Uncontrolled DM.
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Follow FAN on LinkedIn!
https://www.linkedin.com/company/footandanklenews/
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MEDLINE
DYNAMIC DISC
Last week, we talked about the apparent difficulty of creating a Nitinol screw that can reliably perform. Cost constraints and controlling the power of Nitinol adds to the complexity of the equation that has yet to be commercially cracked. Medline circumvented these difficulties by creating a simple work around. A Nitinol Washer – THE DYNAMIC DISC! This is another “why didn’t I think of that” product that we love to see launched in the foot and ankle space.
The Medline DYNAMIC DISC creates an easy way to make a static compression screw, dynamic and makes complete sense in my mind. Conversion to using this product, or at least trying this product is relatively low risk for a surgeon. From an instrumentation, cost, and time perspective, nothing drastically changes for the doctor who uses traditional screw fixation. Medline sent Foot and Ankle News a white paper on the dynamic disc that covers a lot in terms of mechanism of action and statistical difference in compression provided by the DISC versus traditional screw fixation with standard washer.
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The rational presented in the white paper I found most interesting was looking at the use of the most common Nitinol product (staples) in combination with other static devices. Plates and screws are necessary for more robust fixation and stability in a lot of cases. Adding a Nitinol staple can add needed compression to these cases, but hybrid constructs inherently neutralize some of this dynamic compression offered by these devices. Having these washers in combination with staples would seem to create a construct that is entirely dynamized. |
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Negatives that need to be considered are washer absorption into the bone (too strong?) and profile of screw for potential irritation. Most would agree, screw removal is part of life and obtaining fusion in a tough case far outweighs a second out-patient surgery. This seems like a winner to me; it will of course depend a lot on how these discs actually perform. The Medline Team has created a nice base platform in foot and ankle and is now adding some much-needed innovation with this and their newly launched SYNDEX syndesmosis device. This innovation will help pull through their solid portfolio of “me too” products and make them a player in the foot and ankle market.
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BUNION WARS
Direct to Patient Marketing
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As we have shown in recent newsletters, bunions are big business and have become a place for innovation within the market. There are approximately 400,000 surgical bunion procedures performed annually in the US using a variety of techniques and fixation methods (if applicable). Using a simple keyword search tool, we found that there are roughly 3 million annual, bunion related web searches. That is a decent number of people who are consulting Dr. Google to find a solution.
There are a few companies in the foot and ankle space that have identified direct-to-patient, online marketing websites as opportunity to promote their procedure specific products as well as those physicians using them. These create interest, awareness, and potentially convert business.
At the end of the day, patients do not make surgical decisions on hardware – surgeons do. Offering these niche marketing platforms seems like a low-cost win/win for these companies and the surgeons who appear on these websites. Patients looking to the web for surgical advice will continue to grow, that is a fact. As time moves on, I expect these websites and their metrics of conversion to become more and more sophisticated and a focus for marketing teams moving forward.
Are you on these surgeon finders?
Let’s take a look at the top 4 companies leading the charge on this digital battle ground by attracting potential patients to their websites.
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TREACE – LAPIPLASTY
A company that started with one procedural specific bunion product, that went public in 2021 and has a $1.08 BILLION (TMCI) market cap, is the Gold Standard when it comes direct to patient market for bunions. Lapiplasty.com does an excellent job of helping patients understand the problem and why Treace is the solution. The site is linked organically to hundreds of practice pages and is prevalent in all pay per click display ads as well. The FIND A DOCTOR allows patients to see a hierarchy of surgeons based on surgical volume in their area. Some physicians allow the ability to book an office appointment right from the Lapiplasty website.
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CROSSROADS – MINIBUNION 4D
Crossroads is doing its best to mimic Treace Medical’s success with this website. The SURGEON FINDER also call out the doctors based on their experience with titles of distinction. For example, surgeons with 25 cases or more are designated as “Centers of Excellence.” I like the idea of using surgical volume as a filter for potential patients.
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ARTHREX – MIS BUNION
Arthrex’s newly created website highlights the benefits of MIS bunion surgery. The FAQ section is unique in the fact it has surgeons offering video commentary questions surrounding on the procedure and bunions in general. The FIND A DOCTOR provides instant results and should help to generate potential patients for those landing on the website.
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PARAGON28 – PHANTOM LAPIDUS NAIL
Paragon28 features their Phantom Lapidus Nail as another MIS option for patients. Similar to the formula of the other sites mentioned, it offers procedure specific insight and benefits, patient success stories, surgeon testimonials of the product, and a FIND A SURGEON directory.
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PodiatryMeetings.com Calendar
Looking for a meeting?
This resource has an extensive amount of information for meeting opportunities where you can earn your required continuing education credits.
Click below to access the extensive meeting calendar.
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AOFAS Upcoming Meetings & Courses |
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February 10, 2022
20:00 - 21:00 GMT OR 8:00 - 9:00 pm CST
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February 17-20, 2022
Phoenix, Arizona
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September 14-17, 2022
Québec City, Canada
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About Foot and Ankle News & Contact Information
Foot and Ankle News is curated roundup of the most impactful news for Foot and Ankle Doctors, Rep’s, and Exec’s delivered weekly directly to your inbox.
- Breaking News
- Device Technology
- Journal Reviews
- Upcoming Events
- Practice Advice
All of our posts from our weekly email newsletter can be found at www.footandanklenews.com. Our newsletter goes out to over 12,000 foot and ankle surgeons and industry professionals across the country. The articles are created by a group of volunteers and freelance industry insiders. If you you would like to contact us or have an article or topic you would like to share, please submit it to: footandanklenews@gmail.com
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