Stryker Expands Reach Throughout Trauma Segment

The acquisition and smooth integration of Wright Medical has been a home run for Stryker’s Trauma and Extremities division. That business essentially doubled in size from 2019 to our estimated 2024 finish, with a CAGR of nearly 16%.

We spoke to Tim Lanier, Stryker’s President, Trauma and Extremities Division, about how the company can innovate and further expand in both core trauma and foot and ankle. Excerpts from our conversion are below, edited for clarity and length.

What made Artelon an attractive buy? What caught your attention about that company?

Mr. Lanier: The Artelon acquisition really enhances and differentiates Styrker’s foot and ankle as well as sports medicine offerings for soft tissue fixation. It allows us to provide a more complete solution for our customers.

We believe the acquisition will fuel our goal of establishing a more comprehensive solution in those segments, making us a lot more competitive in soft tissue fixation, specifically in foot and ankle. What makes it attractive is this differentiated synthetic technology that’s designed to support and reinforce soft tissue provides an improved solution for ligament and tendon reconstruction. The products are packaged to support procedures in an ambulatory surgery center as well, which is a big deal today.

The soft tissue segment of the foot and ankle is getting a lot of attention today. In the past, soft tissue repair has primarily been focused on knee and shoulder. But think about sprained ankles and just lateral ankle instability in general, Achilles and tendon repairs.

You mentioned the ASC setting as a good fit for this product. What is the adoption of foot and ankle surgery in that setting?

Mr. Lanier: I think this is one of the changes that you’re seeing in the market in general, not just in foot and ankle. But across orthopedic procedures, more and more of these procedures are migrating to ambulatory surgery centers, especially elective and diagnostic procedures. That trend has been ongoing since the pandemic.

There are clearly a lot of benefits with increased efficiency, higher patient satisfaction, reduced cost and better throughput. From my perspective, the foot and ankle market changed quite significantly, starting right before the pandemic and coinciding with Stryker’s purchase of Wright Medical.

We’re focusing on innovations that enhance those efficiencies and fit what our patients and customers are looking for, and they include everything from developing different packaging solutions to improving instrumentation and creating capital solutions, such as our Pulse cabinet, which was designed with the ASC setting in mind.

Regarding Artelon, they’ve done some really great work with strategically packaged single-use sterile kits for ASCs.

While core trauma sales are resurgent, it sounds like the foot and ankle market has been slow for a few quarters. What drives the ebb and flow of the trauma market?

Mr. Lanier: Well, if we all knew that answer, we would probably be in a lot better shape. But I’ll give you a couple of data points about the foot and ankle market.

First and foremost, yes, the market has softened a little bit. A bolus of procedures that built up through the pandemic that we were all working through back in 2022 and 2023. We’ve worked through a lot of that. The markets in general are normalizing to what they were. I can’t speak for all the markets, but in foot and ankle, that clearly is one data point that we’ve seen.

Secondly, the ebbs and flows have a lot to do with time as well. Foot and ankle procedures are probably prioritized a little differently than other acute trauma procedures or potentially hip and knee procedures.

But the market’s still robust. We still feel like this is a strong market of potential growth for us long term. As we think about weaving in this soft tissue technology, we’re putting ourselves in a position to gain more and more access to procedures in the foot and ankle space in the future.

Going back to core trauma, what are your expectations for the Pangea launch?

We do have a renewed focus on core trauma, which stems from our commitment to enhancing patient care in this segment and doing it by advancing innovation. Since acquiring Wright Medical in 2020, we’ve solidified our focus by dedicating an entire business around just core trauma.

It was a strategic move that allowed us to broaden our investments and enhance our capabilities, and in just four years, we’ve not only expanded our resources, but also developed specialized teams that are solely focused on core trauma. The core trauma market is rapidly evolving, and we believe that by concentrating our efforts there, we can drive significant improvements in patient outcomes.

Pangea is one of those products that we think is going to have a major impact, and it supports this expansion that we’re talking about. It’s going to allow us to round out what we think is going to be a comprehensive and versatile portfolio. Our full trauma product portfolio is going to be at the forefront of the industry.

We think about plating, nailing, external fixation and everything else that goes along with treating trauma patients. So, this is going to make us the go-to partner for all the trauma needs from this point forward. The strategy ensures that we are going to be well-positioned to meet the needs of our healthcare providers and patients, and Pangea is going to be a big platform for us to do that.