Total Ankle Replacement Sparks New Race

Orthopedic companies now target the so-called extremities as an area of capable of producing double-digit growth in sales. To be sure, the markets are considerably smaller than hips or knees, but multinational leaders can’t ignore untapped potential when their core markets are stagnant, and a new front is forming in the battle for foot and ankle supremacy around an old but still underutilized device – total ankle replacement implants.

Orthopedic companies are being forced to search far and wide for markets with true growth potential. Established orthopedics companies Stryker Corp. and Smith & Nephew PLC have set up businesses in emerging market countries including China, India, and Brazil and in some cases have bolstered their presence through the acquisition of domestic companies. Even Medtronic PLC, which sells only spine devices in the US and Europe, jumped into China’s orthopedics industry with the acquisition of China Kanghui Holdings in 2012. [See Deal] (SeeAlso see "Could Medtronic’s Kanghui Purchase Set Course For US Entry?" - In Vivo, 22 October, 2012..)

But the search for growth isn’t limited to far off lands. Orthopedic companies like Stryker, Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.,...

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