Zimmer Biomet reported its spine business generated $198 million in sales for the second quarter of 2018, a 2.5 percent increase over the same period last year, and CEO Bryan Hanson reported excitement for the future during the company's second quarter conference call.
As transcribed by Seeking Alpha, Mr. Hanson was asked about the company's spine stemless business and where he sees it heading in the future. He reported the company has added new team members and implemented changes in the channel strategy.
"I'm excited that some combination of a new team, new products that we're launching and a channel strategy that we're putting in the place that's coming together to be able to allow that business platform to perform [to our plan] or even slightly better," he said.
Mr. Hanson also touched on spine surgery robotic technology, saying the company aims to launch the total knee application for the ROSA robotics platform by the end of the year. In 2016, the company acquired Medtech for $132 million, which included the ROSA robotic navigation system for spine and brain surgery. The company aims to re-engage the robotic technology into the spine market over the next several months.
"When we're talking about a robotic system, we want to roll this out in a safe and effective manner. We want to make sure that we have the right training that goes along with it and want to learn as we go," he said. "Are there any mishaps associated with product launch that we have and if so how do we correct those and go forward? That usually takes us five to six months. And that's what we would expect…we're talking about the robotic systems plus about six months post the time that we [do a] limited launch."