Sports Surgery Division

All but guaranteed that the Sports Division will be sold off soon.

 

There's no future in energy. Stay away. It's a blip on the screen now, but a year or two, it's gone.

 

Wasn't Sports a new division for Covidien, why would they be selling it after 2 years? What are the main products in the sports line? Is there a buyer?

 

No one wants what Covidien has to offer. Dipping their toes in the sports med pool doesn't make them a sports med company. They want to play against the Arthrex's, S&N's, Mitek's of that world but try to do it with the same mentality that they compete against Ethicon. That's what's killed them in the hernia mesh world too. If you're going to compete in those markets, you need to come with a full complement of products that compete in both price and technology. But when you come into it years behind in developmental products, ones that are over-priced as well, and then act like you're the best on the block? Come on...

 

What is the focus of their sports line, Knee or shoulder? The only thing that I could find is an old Herculon ad on line for an anchor that was developed years ago. Is the division for sale, do they have any market share or big surgeons on board?

 

Reading between the lines, there's not much going on here.

http://www.uss-sportsmed.com/SportsMedicine/pagebuilder.aspx?contentID=63154&webPageID=60724&topicID=0&breadcrumbs=#document

Sports Med has been around for years within US Surgical /Covidien but they've done nothing with it. They have no market share and with the present state of the sports medicine field, they can only compete on price. Perhaps they could have given some *ahem* consulting fees to clinicans a few years ago but those days are done.

Sports med is pretty saturated and procedures are relatively routine with excellent outcomes. Arthrex, DePuy/Mitek, S&N and, to a lesser extent, Stryker have all of the relationships and purchasing flexibility. R&D and Marketing have been broken for so long in that division of Covidien that serious growth is going to take a lot of time, money and a serious commitment.

 

They also acquired scandius (scandius.com) a few years ago, but they have not integrated their products into the covidien site. But that's about it, the Scandius ACL line, a meniscal suture device, and some metal anchors.

It could be an interesting acquisition for a joint company that wants to get into sports, provided they want to invest money and time. The current line won't get them far.

 

They also acquired scandius a couple of years ago (or so). They have not integrated their products in the main covidien site. So the product line is pretty weak, the scandius ACL, a meniscal suture device, and some metal anchors.

It would be an interesting acquisition for a joints company that wants to get into sports, and does not want to start from scratch. As a stand alone unit it probably is not worth much.

 

So the sports surgery line is terrible, from what I've read and have heard from people . What about the biosurgery division? Is covidien bio and sports surgery the same division? Do reps in the biosurgery division do well?

 

as far as I know they are separate and not the same... I'm actually just signing on board with Covidien Sports Surgery and have heard many good things from people outside of the company. Covidien's sports med. line seems to be growing steadily.

 

Growing steadily are you serious??? I ran into one of their distributor reps and he said the line is complete crap and the products are about 12 years old. He said the sports line does not even come close to competing with whats out there, Arthrex, Smith Nephew and Mitek. People are wondering if they are trying to sell the division off, but most don't think anyone would buy it. I heard they are on a hiring freeze in sports and have actually planned on cutting down their sales team. Which territory are you signing into? Based on what's been said in most device circles, I would not sign on with the sports division, run. Fast.

 

Growing Steadily??? are you serious?? Have you been in an OR in the last 5 years??

I've heard that the product line is 12 years old and doesen't come close to competing with the big 3, not even close.

You must be a distributor, because I heard they are not hiring any more direct reps for this division.

 

Sports Surgery is a joke, another one of SF wet dreams, and LD runs it , she is terrible. Stay Away

 

This crap division is FOR SALE. You get LD with the package.

 

This is another example of why SF is a failure

 

I interviewed with these guys a couple years ago. The director for the midwest was looking for someone direct to get distributors and reps on board in my area. I worked for Arthrex for 8 years and knew a ton of distributors that would have picked them up. Because this bozo was unorganized and generally didn't keep his word on ANYTHING, I blew him off. I am now in spine but still have good contacts in my area for sports med. NO ONE has heard of these guys let alone seen an anchor or ACL in a case.

Thank god I didn't take this position!

 

This division is a joke, so it the Biosurgery division. I used to work in the division and have moved on to bigger and better things. I heard the sports line was complete garbage and the quotas were completely ridiculous. The quota was also ridiculous for the bio reps (duraseal) and we looked for leadership to help but is seemed as if they could careless. I guess when you sit in an office all day and are pulling down 250k plus and haven't sold in the new economy, you don't really have to care about much except for yourself and the next meeting/ conference call.

The reps were never and are still probably not given what they need, and it looks like they set the quotas high to avoid paying out comission to their people What a great way to attract and keep talent. I'm sure they will continue to lose good people if they can't compensate their reps and get their leadership together. In the future, they should probably listen to the field. Bad division, stay away unless you like dealing with incompetence.

 

Total disaster, LD is a MORON , SF thought this business would grow in 5 years he has no clue been he has been a disaster since they took over and through Panzer out, it's not just sports and biosurg it's also Wound closure and hernia , dumb people runnng it.

 

meant threw

 

Yes, I've been told the person running the division, LD, is completely clueless.

Very misguided, has no clue what's going on in the field, doesen't have experience in the orthopedic market and she is the person running the division. Why would a large company, that wants to continue to be successful, select this type of leadership or lack of leadership??

If this is how Covidien chooses to run their business units, I will not continue to invest in the company's stock.