DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. is beefing up its small bones business in a challenged trauma market.
On May 9, 2016, the company, part of the DePuy Synthes Companies, announced the acquisition of privately held BioMedical Enterprises, Inc. (BME). BME manufactures nitinol orthopedic implants for small bone fixation. The implants are used to treat bunions, hammertoes and other foot and ankle deformities, as well as hand and wrist deformities.
The company says the acquisition reinforces its focus on “accelerating meaningful innovation and strengthening DePuy Synthes’ portfolio for elective extremity procedures—providing a more complete solution for foot and ankle and hand and wrist specialists.”
San Antonio, Texas based BME sells its products in the U.S. and select markets throughout the world. BME, founded more than a decade ago, was one of the first U.S. manufacturers of nitinol metal implants for musculoskeletal fixation and is a market leader in the use of memory metal implants for bone fixation. Nitinol is a nickel-titanium alloy that provides dynamic continuous active compression, which helps to promote healing after bone fixation. The company’s implants come ready-to-use on a sterilized, pre-loaded, fully disposable insertion tool.
Ciro Römer, company group chairman, DePuy Synthes, said BME’s technology is an “excellent complement to our comprehensive portfolio of solutions that spans all of orthopaedics.” He added that the BME portfolio will be integrated into DePuy Synthes’ trauma platform, “where we will be able to expand the availability of these solutions, increase the pace of innovation in this area, and reach more patients around the world. We look forward to welcoming the BME employees to DePuy Synthes.”
DePuy Synthes certainly has reason to add to its trauma portfolio.
Wells Fargo Senior Analyst Larry Biegelsen wrote on May 9, 2016 that the trauma market growth rate, which DePuy Synthes leads, “likely slowed” in the first quarter of 2016.
Trauma worldwide market growth of 2% in the quarter appeared to have slowed sequentially compared to the 3% growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 growth (+3%).
DePuy Synthes posted +0.4% growth in first quarter compared to +2% growth in final quarter of 2015. In the U.S., the company’s growth was +5%, an acceleration compared to +4% at the end of 2015. However, outside the U.S., the company’s trauma sales declined by -5% after rebounding to +1% growth in 2015’s fourth quarter due to softer demand in China and a reduction in inventory. Biegelsen believes that the overall trauma market remains under some pressure as a “challenged foreign market weighs on relatively stable U.S. growth.”
