Here are eight things for spinal surgeons to know for Oct. 9, 2014.
Medtronic ditches foreign subsidiary cash in Covidien deal
Medtronic will use around $16 billion in external financing to complete its Covidien acquisition instead of cash from foreign subsidiaries. Medtronic Chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak announced the change after the Treasury Department introduced new regulations meant to discourage tax-inversion deals.
DISC Sports & Spine, SCA form joint venture
SCA is now a majority equity partner in DISC and DISC will collaborate with SCA to design national benchmarking programs for outpatient care. The goals of the joint venture are to "elevate the quality of outpatient surgery, increase accountability and reduce costs to consumers."
Cedars-Sinai completes Kerlan Jobe, Santa Monica group affiliations
Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Health System finalized an agreement to affiliate with Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles and Santa Monica (Calif.) Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Group. The entities entered into a letter of intent to jointly pursue advancement in orthopedics and sports medicine in late 2013.
European Union probes planned Zimmer-Biomet deal
European Union regulators have begun an in-depth probe into Zimmer's planned $13.35 billion acquisition of Biomet. According to the EU, the acquisition could result in less innovation and higher prices.
What is the best surgical treatment for thoracolumbar fracture-dislocation?
The study, published in Spine, found that both a combined postanterior fusion and transforaminal thoracic interbody fusion had similar fusion rates and instrumentation failure rate. However, the researchers found a difference in blood loss, operating time and perioperative complication rate between the procedures.
What will medtech look like in 2020? J&J may not be on top
According to a report from EvaluateMedTech, sales in the medtech sector are expected to reach $514 billion by 2020, growing at a 5 percent compound annual growth rate from 2013 to 2020. Johnson & Johnson is set to lead total medtech sales, with total sales of $32.8 billion by 2020. However, if Medtronic's acquisition of Covidien is approved, they could challenge J&J for the top spot.
Lumbar DDD spine surgery up 2.4-fold
There were 380,305 patients who underwent surgical treatment for lumbar DDD over the nine-year period, according to a study published in The Spine Journal. The population-adjusted incidence of surgical treatment grew 2.4-fold during the study period. However, total disc replacement didn't increase significantly over the study period.
AxioMed for sale after raising more than $70M
Gerbsman Partners has been hired to sell AxioMed Spine, accompany that has raised more than $70 million. AxioMed develops next-generation technology for the cervical and lumbar spine. The company's Freedom Technology is on track to capture around $1 million over the next year in the European Union.
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