Small medical device companies are bypassing expensive sales tactics by offering big discounts on orthopedic devices to remain competitive in the market, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

RSB Spine, a Cleveland-based spine device company, reported a 131 percent sales increase for the second quarter of 2011 over the same time period in 2010, according to a company news release.

The number of ASC purchase and sale transactions remained high in 2008. The most common structures for the typical transactions were as follows: (1) the acquisition of a majority interest in an ASC by a forprofit, strategic acquirer which focuses as a core business in buying majority interests; (2) the acquisition of a minority interest in an ASC by a for-profit, strategic acquirer which focuses as a core business in buying minority interests and/or investing in turn around centers; and (3) the hospital acquisition of a minority or majority interest in a local ASC. In a fourth, less common structure, a hospital purchases an ownership interest in an ASC side-by-side with a third-party ASC management company.

West Chester, Pa.-based Synthes announced its financial earnings for 2009, which included consolidated sales of nearly $3.4 billion for the year.

As orthopedics device manufacturers begin to release their fourth quarter results, analysts for the market expect to see demand increase and the market stabilized over the first and second quarters of 2010, according to a report in Reuters.

Zimmer Holdings has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2009, according to a Zimmer news release.

Stryker Corp. reported net earnings growth of 10.2 percent from $278 million to $306 million and adjusted net earnings growth of 10.3 percent from $299 million to $330 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to a Stryker Corp. news release.

Hanger Orthopedic Group, currently based in Bethesda, Md., expects to report a record fourth quarter sales of around $205 million, representing growth of 35-46 percent for the quarter, according to a Hanger news release.

Stryker Corp. reported that its sales were $1.834 billion for the fourth quarter of 2009, representing a 6.8 percent increase over net sales of $1.718 billion for the fourth quarter of 2008, and were $6.723 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009, representing a 0.1 percent increase from net sales of $6.718 billion for the year ended Dec.31, 2008, according to a Stryker news release.

Warsaw, Ind.-based Biomet reported that net sales increased 8 percent during the second fiscal quarter ended Nov. 30, 2009, to $695.6 million from $642.8 million during the second quarter of fiscal year 2009, according to a Biomet news release.