Baxter International Inc. brought its full and considerable weight to bear to the orthobiologics market by paying handsomely for ApaTech Ltd., a privately held start-up with a silicate substituted calcium phosphate synthetic bone graft material. [See Deal] Baxter paid $240 million up front for the right to take on Medtronic PLC, Orthovita Inc. and other companies selling bone graft materials to the spinal market. Ultimately, Baxter will likely pay more than five times the company's 2009 revenue of $60 million, having agreed to kick in an additional $90 million if the bone graft products hit sales milestones.
The acquisition gives Baxter immediate entry into the orthobiologics market, an area it's been circling slowly for the past five years after it first entered into a research and development...