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ZMH, SYK
The latest in marketing spin:
a “female” knee replacement…

http://yahoo.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060322...

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Orthopedic cos seek to woo women with new knee implant

Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:42 PM ET
By Debra Sherman

CHICAGO, March 22 (Reuters) - The top orthopedic device manufacturers, gearing up for a new marketing brawl, are seeking to woo women with a newly designed female knee implant.

Zimmer Holdings Inc. < ZMH > said it expects to win U.S. regulatory approval for its new knee implant designed specifically for women in May. Zimmer, the leading maker of knee and hip implants with about a third of the market, featured the new implant prominently in a pink booth at the annual American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in Chicago this week.

"This is a market share taker," Zimmer Chairman and Chief Executive Raymond Elliott said. "This will be one of the battle fields for sure. Women control this business."

The implant, he said, is smaller and has a different shape than others on the market.

Women receive about 60 percent of all knee implants. Because women tend to live longer and have a greater likelihood of becoming obese than men, they are expected to continue to drive the implant business. Elliott said Zimmer will likely have a female hip implant on the market in 24 to 28 months.

Rival Stryker Corp. < SYK >, which commands about 19 percent of the knee market, launched the Triathlon Knee about a year ago and has recently become more vocal about marketing it to women. The product has been well received and is the fastest growing knee product line, Stryker Chairman Stephen MacMillan said in an interview.

The Triathlon knee, which comes in several sizes and has a slightly different shape than conventional knee replacements, has commanded a slight premium over Stryker's other knee implants, MacMillan said.

"It's appropriate for both men and women. This has been mostly a marketing challenge," MacMillan said, adding that the company may step up its advertising campaign this year.

Johnson & Johnson's < JNJ > orthopedic business DePuy, which last year commanded 23 percent of the knee market, recently hired Angela Lansbury, who became best known for her starring role in the television mystery series "Murder, She Wrote, to help with its advertising campaign. The actress has had two hip implants and one knee implant, but DePuy spokeswoman Monika Gibson said the campaign will focus on the social and emotional differences between the sexes.

"Our data doesn't really support that women need a different implant than a man," she said. Dane Miller, chief executive of Biomet Inc. < BMET >, the fourth largest maker of knee implants, concurred, adding "We're not going to do that." Miller said he did not believe the differences were great enough to warrant a different product design and at least some orthopedic surgeons held reservations as well. "I just did a 360-pound woman. She's bigger than most men and I used a regular old knee (implant)," said William Sadlack, an orthopedic surgeon based in Bethesda, Maryland.

This is pure marketing. The difference (between the sexes) are so subtle. If you need a knee replacement, you don't have a normal knee to start with," said Sadlack, who said he has done 2,000 knee replacements.

Jeffrey Metzmaker, an orthopedic surgeon based in Worcester, Massachusetts, said the jury is still out on the female knee. "Any initial proposal is meant to be tested by science to see if there's an advantage. Zimmer is certainly taking the lead on this," he said.
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