May the Best Spine Robot Win

One of the most promising areas of robotic-assisted surgery is in spine procedures. But hospital executives are taking longer to purchase robotic systems because they have more options to choose from in the marketplace, Globus Medical executives noted during the company's second-quarter earnings call. In fact, CEO Dave Demski said the company closed several deals in the second quarter that were expected to close in the first quarter. Each deal is being hard-fought, Demski said, but the company has hired more sales reps to account for the longer cycle. On the bright side, Demski said the company has won "an overwhelming majority" of head-to-head technology evaluations. "While there may be a lot of noise in the market right now about various alternatives, we firmly believe that the best technology will lead the way," he said. Some analysts on the call expressed concern about the fact that one of Globus Medical's primary competitors in robotics is Medtronic, which acquired Mazor late last year for nearly $1.7 billion. "There is this view that you're going up against a behemoth in Medtronic, and a behemoth you've gone up against for 10 years in the core spine business, but in this case, perhaps challenged in selling robots against this very, very large global company," said Matt Miksic, a Credit Suisse analyst. Actually, Demski told Miksic, Globus has competed with Medtronic in the spine market for 16 years. "We were zero at that point, and our guidance is...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Orthopedics Business Source Type: news