Zimmer Holdings Acquires Intelligent Surgical Instrument Technology from MedTech S.A.
Wednesday March 22, 4:00 pm ET
WARSAW, Ind., March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Zimmer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZMH - News; SWX: ZMH - News), a leader in the orthopaedics industry, announced today that it has acquired all of the intellectual property for an intelligent surgical assistive device that is designed to support surgeons in positioning orthopaedic instrumentation with the aspirational goals of both cutting procedure time and reducing the number of instruments required during surgery.
The product is named the Zimmer® BRIGIT(TM) Bone Resection Instrument Guide; "BRIGIT" is an acronym for "Bone Resection Instrument Guidance by Intelligent Telemanipulator." During a surgical procedure, this voice- activated device provides the surgeon with the ability to accurately position instruments based upon patient-specific, pre-operative plans established through a software interface. The surgeon then makes surgical cuts at precise angles required for the patient's specific anatomy and the telemanipulator arm assists the surgeons in maintaining the desired position.
"Zimmer is dedicated to assisting surgeons in improving the accuracy and reproducibility of the steps involved in joint replacement procedures and the BRIGIT system is a major technological step forward in this effort," said Ray Elliott, Zimmer Holdings Chairman, President and CEO. "Unlike some competitive strategies, we are focusing on making the surgeon more efficient and not on replacing the surgeon. The BRIGIT system is not a surgical robot but an intelligent tool that provides feedback and guidance to the surgeon throughout the procedure."
Use of the BRIGIT system has the potential to reduce the number of instruments needed in a procedure and is designed to speed the transition between steps in a surgical procedure. It also has the potential to benefit hospitals by reducing procedure times through minimizing the number of instruments used, which can also reduce requirements for cleaning and sterilization of instruments.
Zimmer has submitted an application for 510(k) clearance of the BRIGIT system for use in total knee arthroplasty. The Company says it believes the product also may be applied in the future to hip, extremity and spinal surgery as well as other procedures that require a high level of accuracy.
Financial details regarding acquisition of the intellectual property from the France-based company, MedTech S.A., were not disclosed.
About the Company
Founded in 1927 and headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, Zimmer is the worldwide #1 pure-play orthopaedic leader in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing reconstructive and spinal implants, trauma and related orthopaedic surgical products. Zimmer has operations in more than 24 countries around the world and sells products in more than 100 countries. Zimmer's 2005 sales were approximately $3.3 billion. The Company is supported by the efforts of more than 6,700 employees worldwide.
Visit Zimmer on the worldwide web at zimmer.com .
Zimmer Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the orthopaedics industry, management's beliefs and assumptions made by management. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "may," "will," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "assumes," "guides," "targets," "forecasts," and "seeks" or the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to successfully integrate Centerpulse AG and Implex Corp., the outcome of the Department of Justice investigation announced in March 2005, price and product competition, rapid technological development, demographic changes, dependence on new product development, the mix of our products and services, supply and prices of raw materials and products, customer demand for our products and services, control of costs and expenses, our ability to form and implement alliances, international growth, governmental laws and regulations affecting our U.S. and international businesses, including tax obligations and risks, product liability and intellectual property litigation losses, reimbursement levels from third-party payors, general industry and market conditions and growth rates and general domestic and international economic conditions including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the disclosure materials filed by Zimmer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Zimmer disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers of this document are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, since, while we believe the assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. This cautionary statement is applicable to all forward-looking statements contained in this document.
Source: Zimmer Holdings, Inc.
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