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Medacta International invested in personalized medicine with its acquisition of Balgrist Computer Assisted Research and Development (CARD), announced November 2.
Balgrist CARD is a spin-off of Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich. The company was a startup developed within the university’s center in which researchers, physicians, developers and industry experts collaborate on all aspects of translational medicine with the intent to commercialize and bring them to market.
With the acquisition, Medacta gains access to Balgrist CARD’s MyOsteotomy, a proprietary solution for planning and executing complex osteotomy with a patient-specific approach. MyOsteotomy combines 3D preoperative planning and custom-made drilling, cutting and reduction guides to produce an “exact preoperative assessment and a highly accurate and controlled surgical procedure,” according to Balgrist CARD.
The MyOsteotomy system is available for extra- and intra-articular corrective osteotomies of upper (finger, carpal bones, radius, ulna, humerus, and clavicle) and lower (pelvis, femur, tibia, fibula and tarsal bones) extremities. Medacta believes that the software is an answer for all corrective osteotomies, including periacetabular and high tibial osteotomies.
To further its commitment in personalized medicine, Medacta also announced a four-year partnership with Balgrist University Hospital to explore unmet clinical needs in orthopaedics.
“We strongly believe that personalized medicine is going to be the future in orthopaedics,” said Francesco Siccardi, Medacta CEO, “and we are glad to be able to collaborate with Balgrist University and the Balgrist Campus to develop products and services that will deliver to each patient the best possible solution.”
Both the acquisition and the partnership position Medacta well for the future amongst its total joint and spine competitors, as personalized medicine is becoming increasingly important and companies of all sizes develop patient-specific products and enabling technologies.
This announcement comes on the heels of an active 4Q18 of announcements for Medacta:
- Siccardi was appointed as CEO, taking over from his father Dr. Alberto Siccardi.
- The company received FDA 510(k) clearance to market its Mpact 3D Metal implant and Augments 3D Metal, for use in total hip arthroplasties or revision procedures.
- It received FDA 510(k) clearance to market the GMK® Sphere – Kinematic Alignment surgical technique and technique-specific instruments for total knee replacement. The clearance adds an alternative alignment approach, allowing the procedure to be performed by either a manual, instrumented caliper technique or with patient-specific instrumentation.
Medacta is #13 among ORTHOWORLD’s estimates of orthopaedic device companies, as ranked by revenue. For 2017, ORTHOWORLD estimated Medacta’s revenue at US $278.1MM, growth of 12% vs. 2016. Joint reconstruction accounts for over 95% of that; the remainder of the company’s revenue derives from spine products. Medacta intends to enter the U.S. soft tissue repair/sports medicine market next with the M-ARS ACL: Anatomic Ribbon Surgery System, which received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance in early 4Q17.
