Implanet, based in Bordeaux, France, has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Korean company L&K BIOMED, a move that should eventually lead to a strategic partnership. L&K BIOMED designs, develops and markets an extensive range of high-end implants for spine surgery in Asia and the United States.
French Implanet Inks Deal With Korean L&K BIOMED
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As Implanet wrote in its December 6, 2017 news release, “In the United States: Implanet America will join forces with Aegis Spine to accelerate the marketing of its JAZZ platform, notably through the deployment of existing and complementary solutions incorporating both companies technologies.”
“Aegis Spine hence intends to make the most of Implanet Americas sales network on the East Coast of the United States, where the company has little presence. Conversely, Implanet will be able to benefit from Aegis Spines substantial direct and indirect sales network across the rest of North America, capitalizing on recent positive clinical results and a powerful network of opinion leaders…”
“In Asia and in Oceania: L&K BIOMED will distribute the Jazz platform in addition to its existing product range. The main objective for both companies will be to jointly penetrate the Japanese market, the world’s second largest market for medical technologies and one that is eager for spine innovations in order to better address its substantial number of elderly or aging patients. The two companies also intend to subsequently penetrate the Chinese market.”
“In Europe: Implanet will distribute L&K BIOMED’s implants, which complement the Jazz® platform, with the clear goal of becoming a player of a considerable size on this continent.”
Implanet CEO Ludovic Lastennet told OTW, “Over the last 12 months, we have been searching for a strong partner of a significant size with an innovative product range that complements our technology. L&K BIOMED was answering this demand. L&K BIOMED is a company listed on the KOSDAQ stock exchange in Seoul, Korea. It designs, develops and markets an extensive range of high-end implants for spine surgery in Asia and the United States.”
“This agreement with L&K BIOMED is a great opportunity for Implanet. In particular it will enable us to significantly accentuate our presence in the United States given our new partner’s longstanding and successful activity. L&K BIOMED will give Implanet JAZZ technology, great access to the Asian markets via its natural presence there and its in-depth knowledge of these markets’ specifics in Europe. Implanet will be offering the L&K BIOMED Spinal Implants together with our JAZZ Platform in order to be offering hybrid spinal construction to the surgeons.”
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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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