Medtronic’s controversial bone growth product Infuse has been hammered by quarter after quarter of declining sales.
Currently, Yale reviewers are conducting an independent review of the data related to Infuse. The review’s conclusions are eagerly awaited by Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak who hopes that Infuse will be vindicated once and for all thereby silencing those who have raised questions about the safety of this blockbuster spinal fusion product.
But one research analyst who does not cover Medtronic believes that Infuse’s fortunes won’t rise even if Yale reviewers grant it a clean bill of health.
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“Given that we’ve already had the proverbial eyebrow raised about Infuse, will (doctors) go back to it, I don’t think so,” said Caroline Corner, an analyst with investment bank MLV & Co.
Corner, who holds a Ph.D. in biological and environmental engineering from Cornell University, said that conversations with top spine surgeons across the country lead her to believe that Infuse will have a secondary role.
She said that the doctors who are still using Infuse, albeit at a much lower rate, are using Infuse in procedures for older patients whose risk of developing cancer is not as high as younger patients; those that are hard to treat, or those who have already had a failed back surgery.
“Someone who is a very poor healer, someone who is in a revisional surgery, someone who is older and not in child-bearing age … some doctors still see an (Infuse) application in treating these hard -to-treat people,” Corner said. “But doctors in general are definitely shying away from using Infuse (most of the time).”
The drop in the utilization rate of Infuse now leaves the door open for other companies trying to develop an alternative to Medtronic’s Infuse, Corner said.
