A patently smart move…Symmetry Medical, Inc. is announcing the appointment of Jose Fernandez, who has either been granted or awarded ten patents throughout his career, to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of New Product Development. Fernandez’s product development and management experience came in part from his time as Vice President of Research and Development with Disc Motion Technologies, as well as several positions with Cordis Neurovascular, a Johnson & Johnson company.
Jose Fernandez Joins Symmetry
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“We welcome Jose to the Symmetry Medical family and look forward to his future contributions to our growing product development portfolio, ” stated Brian Moore, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Symmetry Medical, in the news release. “Symmetry’s strong OEM relationships and direct sales channel to specialty surgeons through our SSI subsidiary positions the company to benefit from an expanded offering of proprietary surgical products. This appointment demonstrates our commitment to these customers and strengthens our position as a diversified and leading company in the medical device industry.”
Fernandez told OTW,
My patents represent both the cardio and orthopaedic device industries, with significant concentration in implantable stents (cardio) and modular hip prosthesis (ortho). It is my hope that my expertise and experience in the spine industry will boost Symmetry Medical’s innovation in the orthopaedic product development market, and that my diversified portfolio will spur future growth opportunities in additional medical device markets. My background in OEM product development and focus in the spine industry should help move as I lead the global multi-channel operations with a concentrated focus on increasing the presence of our products in Asia.
Concerning the company’s future portfolio, Fernandez commented to OTW,
Our customer base continues to demand innovative technologies from their supply chain partners. My goal is to help Symmetry continue to provide the solutions required to meet this demand and maintain our leading position within the medical device development market.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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