“My dad, sister, brother and I have all seen many family-owned companies fail because of inadequate governance, meaning that they are not well managed, and their goals are poorly defined. Our thinking was that putting a minority portion of Medacta’s shares in the market would force a strong governance with an independent board, as well as a clear separation between shareholders and management.”
“Also, said Siccardi, “we knew that doing an IPO would enhance our visibility and assist us in attracting talented people in a variety of markets. Despite being the 5th largest hip and knee company in the world, the Medacta name is not as recognized worldwide as it could be. We are pleased that the shareholders values are fully aligned with those of the company, and to support that we want to avoid any ‘fast growth’ problems. This would include doing our best to ensure that the individuals we hire are in sync with our culture.”
“To that end, we spend all the time necessary to determine that new hires are on board with, for example, the way we approach the market and the fact that we value direct communication, etc. We know that if our core values are shared among a sufficiently large number of people then that will help ensure that new employees also value our ethics and the way we conduct our business. That is why we prefer organic growth as opposed to acquisition.”
The Symposium
This year’s M.O.R.E. Symposium reflected Medacta’s intense focus on surgeon education and hands-on training. It featured 120 orthopedic surgery experts presenting on a variety of orthopedic disciplines, including knee, hip, spine and shoulder.
And the buzz amongst the attendees? Medacta’s focus on:
- Innovation
- Kinematic alignment
- First-in-class personalized medicine (advanced 3-D pre-operative planning tool and patient-specific surgical instrumentation)
- Superior surgeon training
- In-house technology
- Healthcare sustainability
- Patient Support
Innovation
Medacta’s enduring guiding light? Innovation in the service of surgeons and patients.
The original Latin, “innovare,” means to renew or change. Back to the bottom of that mountain…while it is unlikely that Alberto Siccardi had the word “innovation” on his mind at the time, the fact is that he and his family have dedicated themselves to ensuring an enhanced operative experience that renews patient and surgeon alike.
But, says Medacta, innovation must be done responsibly. “For example,” says Siccardi, “we introduced our total knee solution, the GMK Sphere, to the market in April 2014—only after a three-year controlled release program and over 3,000 monitored cases.”
Kinematic Alignment
Following the philosophy that the position and fit of implants should be as precise and individualized as possible, Medacta emphasizes the role of kinematic alignment in heightening the patient care experience.
Francesco Siccardi notes, “After 50 years of mechanical alignment, surgeons are beginning to see the merits of kinematic alignment. To be able to customize the positioning of the implant to the native joint line is known to accelerate healing, improve patient satisfaction, and provide better pain relief and function than traditional alignment.”
But, says Siccardi, Medacta understands the vagaries of human nature. “It’s uncomfortable to change the way you’ve been doing something…to go in a completely new direction. But that is where we come in. Medacta provides surgeon-to-surgeon training that extends far beyond the educational sessions. We mean what we say…with Medacta, the surgeon is never alone.”
