Are we becoming just a foot ankle and bio company

It seems like they have placed all the resources in foot and ankle.
They finally gave us a new knee which is nice but : didn't finish instruments, no revision system, no uni, no pressfit, no crosslinked poly( we will now be alone with stelkast as only company without crosslinked option). I hear them say they are working on some of the points above but at the rate they are going it could be 5 years.

They still haven't launch the fixed neck hip stems. They give us one shell with a good ingrowth material that we are supposed to use for primary and revision. It has too many holes for primaries and doesn't have augments or a constrained liner for revisions. They have completely dropped the ball on the resurfacing. We are the only company who doesn't have delta ceramic. Our two revision stems are way past needing an update.

Our upper extremity team has been MIA. They have delayed the elbow plates launch for almost three years. The only other products recently is a couple plates they bought from rayhack and an update to a distal radius plate no one uses. No volar plate, primary or reverse should, hand plates etc.

They are completely against getting into sports med. The only products they will work on are an anchor and screw for foot and ankle. They are too afraid to compete in trauma. The only products are a few niche products.
Everytime I turn around they are launching something for foot and ankle. Am I the only one who thinks that instead of developing products to help build all aspects of Ortho they have thrown all the eggs into the foot and ankle basket. What happens when the big boys continue to start going after this business. Or is this a way to make us an appealing purchase for one of the big boys who is weak in foot and ankle and bio?

 

Yes, you are correct. Wright Medical is nothing more than a foot and ankle company accompanied by occasional Graft Jackets. Every company has a plate/screw line for foot and ankle that is more cost effective, and there are numerous companies to choose patches from. Your company doesn't invest in joints because your market share is slim to none unless you bought the surgeons.

 

I work for Wright and would say so.

Look at who Wright is hiring right now. They are hiring a direct sales force of foot ankle reps and pressuring the distributors to hire foot and ankle specific reps. They really aren't hiring direct Ortho Recon/Upper extremity reps. I know they are also trying to hire biologics reps in some of the larger markets. They arent really hiring direct Ortho Recon/Upper extremity reps right now. I know alot of markets that have mulitple foot and ankle reps with no Ortho Recon/Upper extremity rep. Some of the distributors have good relationships with surgeons and have sales reps who do very well. Most of those reps carry the full line though. The Ortho recon reps they are hiring either have no experience, are old and washed up, or they are paying them a really high commision to bring over business(up to 40% the first year). Instead of investing in the other areas and trying to build market share they have just decided to flood the market with foot and ankle reps.

 

And six-plus years later, barely even that.

 

"becoming". That's what it has always been and will never be anything more