Bard buying Rymed?

Rumblings on the street Bard is looking to buy Rymed. Is this a good move? What division would sell the caps? Is this the best Bard can do?

 

And who are you, Warren Buffett all of a sudden???

Stick to what you know, pimping soft goods, gauze and tongue depressors to SPD and materials managers surrounded by cinder block.

Leave future earnings, company valuations and strategic acquisitions to the big boys.

Thanks in advance,

Ernest G. Huffington, III
Chief Biotech Analyst
theStreet.com

 

I hear the Bard Access reps are begging for it... Sapiens is waaaay behind on scheduled growth, no more ports or long term dialysis to sell, and Statlock peaked about 5 years ago. All that is left is trying to convert hospitals to a 25 cent hub cleaner vs the 1 cent pad they use now-typical Bard. They need a product they can show growth with, and Rymed is the ticket to growth and more $$$$.

 

Interesting thread..... Paul Blackburn is the new director of marketing for Rymed. I wonder if there's any truth to these rumors.

 

As the symbol represents of the (head knocking against the wall) if Bard Access buys RyMed they weill be banging their heads against the big boys in infusion systems such as Baxter, Hospira, Care Fusion, BBraun who all own national agreements and the rebate / Volume purchasing to go with the sytems for national agreements. These contracts represent huge purchaisng agreements in the hospital setting in the millions of dollars. If one switches needleless systems the cost of solutions, pumps and tubings alters greatly on these agreeements. This is not an easy market to enter when one has no solutions, tubings or pumps to market. Hospira is ICU Medical, Care Fusion is Max Plus, BBraun has a new neutral coming out to replace their old Ultralink (at least that is what they say), and Baxter has Interlink with a new neutral coming out (at least that is what they say). This is not a world Bard is used to playing in. The pressure in this over billion dollar market is tremendous and the lawsuits are multiple to the point where they are taping clinicians over what they are saying in presentations. From the outside looking in this will be one acquistion to follow.

 

to the above poster, you make some good points. however, Bard isn't exactly the new kid on the block with no friends and no ball to play with.

they own the PICC market, or hadn't you heard that? they drove the Maxplus in their PICC kits and the Ultrasite before that, and those products aren't exactly gold standards. with the right valve in their kits, they have the power to capture a hot clinical market and drive cap business all over again, then sets, as tag-along items to their own PICC kit contracts. Bard needs this my friend and others should fear the outcome.

 

It will be of great interest to see the Bard talk to pharmacy and materials management about the switchover from their corporate agreement with Baxter, Hospira, BBraun, and CareFusion. That conversation over cost loss should be entertaining. The needleless decision is not 100% clinically driven and is driven by materials management, pharmacy, and hospital administration. One does not mess with extension sets and needleless systems. Ask Becton Dickinson how far they reached with Q-Syte and Nexiva on national agreements. Q-Syte worked for a while and than fizzled as well as Nexiva. One cannot enter this world without tubings, solutions and pumps and succeed to be a player. what market share does RyMed really have now. Why is the share so low? National agreements anyone.

 

do you even sell in a hospital? CR Bard does 3 bill a year. Their products are on all of the major contracts. National agreements anyone, what? you think MM or purchasing wants to get stuck by CR bard?? ok, go find another mesh product line, another resorbable fixation system, etc etc. ok, now go find another picc kit.

you also said one doesn't mess w/ext. sets and needleless systems? what are you talking about? These systems are being evaluated constantly by hospitals. Tubes might be commodities, as are pumps these days. but needleless systems are not. ever read the news lately? go do a google search on iv connectors and infections or postive pressure FDA.

 

Google market leaders in needleless systems
Max Plus, Clave, Interlink are likely the top three and than maybe Ultralink
all with solution and tubing companies

So you have four systems here -

Max Plus /Care Fusion - positive pressure which is not being forced off the market anytime soon as Max Plus is not listed as a product in any of the studies done on infection and positive pressure devices. It is surviving as the only positive pressure cap to really do so. I think CareFusion got their $250 millions worth in this acquisition as they acquired it right before the FDA warning letter on positive pressure and they are a market leader almost three years later. Testament to their marketing skill level at CareFusion.

Interlink which is old and has too many pieces so Baxter is heavily looking for a neutral to take its place. They tried that coated needleless cap but not sure where it went. It is a split septum. This is a dying line but still holds market leader position

ICU/Hospira - which has the new neutron which is quite nifty. They also have the standby's clave, microclave and the clear versions and Marcia Ryder speaking as well as their talking head. The CLC 2000 has died which was their positive pressure version.
They have moved on to neutral.

Ultralink/ BBraun the last of the dinosaurs on positive pressure and directly linked to infection in the studies. They sorely need a new system and word is they are getting a neutral replacement.

So neutral is the way to go except in the case of CareFusion who has survived the FDA warning and made considerable growth with MaxPlus.

RyMed nowhere to be found. DOA

 

Hey Huff, don't know how you sleep at night.

 

Which makes Rymed an extremely attractive option for a buyout. Rymed is a small company with maybe 1% of the marketshare. In spite of the lack of contracts, Rymed has penetrated many of the major Academic centers where outcomes outweigh costs. I think Bard and Rymed are a perfect marriage.

 

Google market leader "Kodak" and see where they are today. Being a market leader doesn't guarantee you will be one tomorrow. And NOT being one today doesn't mean you're "DOA," otherwise we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Get your head out of the clouds.

RyMed has the most clinically proven device by far, with a fraction of the resources of all these "leaders." They are the sleeping giant.

 

1% = no solutions, tubing, pumps to negotiate with

How much do you really know about these very enforceble contracts on the pharmacy side? It is obvious you have never worked with solutions, tubings and pump contract negotiations. When a hosptial decides to switch to a needleless system off contract this gets very ugly in materials mamagement and pharmacy as their big volume purchases go up considerably in dollars. They use alot more tubings, bags, extensions sets than they use PICC lines my friend. These are multi-million dollar deals. I worked for a hospital that was told that they would lose half a million dollars if they switched to RyMed from Hospira's system. This large medical teaching center did not switch. Materials management put a complete kaboosh on this evaluation very quickly. My friend worked as an IV Team Director and materials management made her do three years of fighting to get Max Plus versus the Hospira they used. Subsequently they made the team go back to Hospira as the cost loss was too significant to the hospital in this economy.

RyMed is also not the easiest intuitive product to use. High inservice time as it is accessed in a very different manner than the other needleless systems. Learning curve rumor has it is very steep. The desgn is too flat on top. The syringe barrel slides off on connection way too easy and gets contaminated. If you are in this area you have had to hear of this one. This was one of the problems when we trialed this product at our facility. It would have not mattered however as the trial was stopped by materials management as we had a Hospira contract that would result in large price increases if we made a switch. Hospira enforced this contract with threats and there was no switch to RyMed as a result. Our clinical opinion had no bearing on the decision.

 

Everybody knows somebody, everybody's got a personal anecdote. I really liked yours above. Could you make the next one shorter though?

Superior product with massive potential... deny it all you want. When they get acquired the landscape will change and along with it will disappear all of the "business rationale" for not implementing a superior product. This is Bard's core culture: clinically proven superiority and outcomes. Your institution's myopia will be the exception. Not the rule.

 

Well you said it short and sweet

My institution is not alone as RyMed with their superiority has 1% market share as you stated
I guess other institutions since you said they are evaluating systems constantly had the same experience as my institituion forced to keep systems on contracts with solutions and tubings and pumps. This is why RyMed has 1% market share. Sometimes it is not about the product but contracts.
End of discussion

 

I don't understand this arguing. I think we all agree on the same thing.

-Rymed is a small player at 1% of marketshare but is seeing year after year growth
-Contracts are keeping this cap from exploding
-Bard has a large, strong sales force
-Bard could bundle their PICC kits with Rymed connectors which would lower costs for the hospitals and get better outcomes.
-Most importantly, Rymed is a deal right now.

 

My understanding is no one inside of Bard has confirmed these discussions yet. I talked with a Rymed Rep last week and they didn't know anything about it either. But what I do know is this...while Rymed is a small player due to contracts, with Bard's strength and reputation we could take over this market very quickly with this product. I have worked closely with Rymed reps in the past, in addition to their superior knowledge of this market space, this product is by far the best one on the market. And now...they have one with chlorhexidine in it. My hospitals that are using it have seen their occlusions and infections go down with. The inservice is brief and not that complicated (I've seen it).

We NEED a new product to help our growth. I predict if the bossmen in Salt Lake move on this...they will realize a huge profit from it and will see the Rymed product gain a marketshare around 25%. Think about it, Bard owns roughly 70% of the PICC business. We could easily capture a chunk of this business and grow with peripheral lines.

Let's hope we make the smart decision on this (if it's true) and acquire Rymed before they triple their value with a GPO contract or other partnership. I guarantee you ICU Medical/Hospira and Baxter are scared to death of this deal going through.

 

I agree....a company like Bard with their significant vascular access catheter market shares could be a game-changer in the area of needleless IV connectors. They are into virtually all GPOs and could bundle their catheters, statlock with the Rymed product lines and dominate this product space. On the surface it appears to be a great synergistic fit. Based on Rymed's website, it also appears their technology is transformation, especially their new chlorhexidine/silver product line.

 

How long have the rumblings been going on? I am sure there are a few companies that are hoping this does not happen! Because if it does, there will be a new market leader. I'm surprised this company is still around.

 

I heard another company was interested