The rumors of impending European approval of Zimmer Holdings Inc.’s $13.3 billion takeover of Biomet, Inc. were true.
Europe and Japan Approve Zimmer/Biomet Deal
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On March 30, 2015, the company announced that the European Union Commission cleared the deal conditional on the execution of divestiture of Zimmer’s uni knee, ZUK and Biomet’s Discovery Elbow throughout Europe. Zimmer must also divest Biomet’s Vanguard Total Knee System for primary and revision implants in Denmark and Sweden. The company said it expects to enter into agreements to divest those assets in the near-term.
The company still expects U.S. regulatory approval and closing of the deal in April.
On March 25, Zimmer also announced that the Japan Fair Trade Commission granted clearance of the acquisition.
When the deal closes, Zimmer will be the No. 2 player in the $45 billion global orthopedics market, trailing only Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Synthes.
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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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