In it to win it????? I don't think so.

[anonymous]

Can't figure out if DS is still really invested/trying in ortho/spine. They are bleeding market share and reps and dont seem to care. They cant get a robot out the door that has any real potential and product launches are few and far between. Still scratching my head about why they sold Pro-Disc. Thoughts? Am I looking at this wrong?

 

[anonymous]

You’re not wrong. Synthes Spine did great from 1995-2005, topped out around $500M-$550M in annual sales in the 2006-2008 area, then started to contract. Wyss changed Spine Presidents a few times, which didn’t help. We bought Prodisc in 2003 as a defensive measure but it never really took off. We paid $300M+ for Prodisc plus another $100M+ to get Brandywine up to speed to manufacture. After JNJ acquired Synthes the 2 Spine divisions were poorly integrated, the “synergies” never materialized and Spine became a low/no growth product with eroding margins. JNJ sold Prodisc back to V Brothers (who we bought it from) for less than $100M. JNJ was having a bad quarter and the sale enabled JNJ to “make their number” that quarter. Seemed short-sighted to me. In my estimation the competition is hungrier, more innovative, and committed. JNJ loses interest in a product/market once the going gets tough and the margins are eroding.

 

[anonymous]

But it is more than spine....across all divisions it seems like lack of effort. Trauma, Recon, sports, too many MBA's that have no sales experience and no awareness of how great this company was. I know people said it when the acquisition happened, but I think now we can see that J&J really did kill Synthes and wasted the 21 Billion they spent.

 

[anonymous]

But it is more than spine....across all divisions it seems like lack of effort. Trauma, Recon, sports, too many MBA's that have no sales experience and no awareness of how great this company was. I know people said it when the acquisition happened, but I think now we can see that J&J really did kill Synthes and wasted the 21 Billion they spent.

The MBA hiring practice is a huge waste of money. A large majority of them expect to do very little work for a high salary, and expect to be promoted every 2-3 years. Sure, you’ll get the occasional shooting star, but for the most part they’re entitled 24, 25 year olds expecting an easy path to a VP title.

 

[anonymous]

Can't figure out if DS is still really invested/trying in ortho/spine. They are bleeding market share and reps and dont seem to care. They cant get a robot out the door that has any real potential and product launches are few and far between. Still scratching my head about why they sold Pro-Disc. Thoughts? Am I looking at this wrong?

 

[anonymous]

The integration of Synthes is a case study of total incompetence. The MBAs they hire could learn a lot in grad school studying how to blow $21B+ on a blue chip company then destroy it in less than a decade. The demise of DS spine is epic. Trauma was the coveted puzzle piece that was going to make J&J an orthopedic gorilla. DS Trauma has quietly been leaking market share since the deal went down. It's not going to be so quiet going forward. The other strategics, especially Stryker, have made acquisitions and upgraded their portfolios while new players like Arthrex are coming on. Since the acquisition innovation has died and LCP looks a little dated. Hospital owned inventory has prevented major market share shifts from happening but the competition have learned how to use it against them. Lack of innovation and meaningful acquisitions, less capable and less hungry reps combined with a less relevant AO partnership are a recipe for mediocrity. The future doesn't bode well when all you do is play defense while the walls are moving in.