UPDATED AND CORRECTED
On Wednesday, I forwarded the argument of an analyst that Medtronic’s (NYSE:MDT) controversial bone graft product Infuse will likely live on in a diminished form, even if an independent review confirms its safety.
So the obvious question is, who will fill the void left by Infuse?
While no company or product single-handedly can be an alternative to Infuse, Caroline Corner, the analyst from MLV & Co., believes that some companies have products that will now naturally be the surgeon’s next best option.
They are Osteocel Plus sold by California firm NuVasive, a Medtronic rival with which the company is engaged in a lawsuit; Trinity Evolution, sold by Orthofix Biologics in Texas; and Vitoss sold by Pennsylvania firm Orthovita, now part of Stryker.
But there is one company that Corner feels particularly excited about. That company is Montana-based Bacterin International.
The company, which is public, published results of a small clinical trial on 28 patients where its OsteoSponge product went head-to-head with Infuse. Data showed that it had as good spinal fusion rates as Infuse and none of the risks. Bacterin management estimates that Infuse has roughly 35 percent to 40 percent of the orthopedics biologics market, and Corner added that if Bacterin can show positive OsteoSponge clinical data on a larger sample, it would have a winning argument.
The pricing — Corner estimates OsteoSponge costs one-third of Infuse — can only help given the cost-conscious era we live in right now.
Let the race begin …
This version removes an incorrect quote about OsteoSponge.
By Arundhati Parmar
Arundhati Parmar is the Medical Devices Reporter at MedCity News. She has covered medical technology since 2008 and specialized in business journalism since 2001. Parmar has three degrees from three continents - a Bachelor of Arts in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India; a Masters in English Literature from the University of Sydney, Australia and a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. She has sworn never to enter a classroom again.More posts by Author
This posting appears a bit premature and without any solid footing. Anyone familiar with the Infuse product or that actually knows the specifics of the double blind study that Infuse went through, would easily be able to see that any speculation regarding diminishing the product is irresponsible and tenuous. Without solid specifics / proof, this article was nothing more than gossip.
one of the patent holders of infuse is a alumni of YALE, he also is one of m.d.'s who was participated in the clinical trials. these trials paid for by MEDTRONIC the patent holder is KEN BURKUS of columbia,ga. these reported 800 operations with 0 complications.
Does Bacterin have any IP worth mentioning?