Surgical staples underpin surgeries in every operating room in the country, and are, well, staples of the businesses of Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. and Covidien Ltd. Together the two control 95% of what Medtech Insight estimates is a $520 million US surgical staples market. Ethicon has managed to grab the lead, with an almost 56% market share, by introducing new products specifically for colorectal, bariatric, and thoracic procedures, but Covidien won't be left behind. In July it announced that it would acquire Power Medical Interventions Inc., an innovative company developing computer-assisted endomechanical surgical instruments, endoscopic cutters and staplers, with, it just so happens, a focus on minimally invasive colorectal, bariatric, and thoracic surgeries. Covidien was acting on its announced intention of focusing on single-incision laparoscopic surgery as an interesting growth opportunity. It offered, in aggregate, $64 million for Power Medical, which had 2008 sales of $8 million. With Power Medical's SurgASSIST stapler, for minimally invasive surgery, Covidien defends its share of the wound closure business.
But another threat is entering from the wings. NiTi Surgical Solutions Ltd. has begun selling an alternative to staples, and it too is targeting the colorectal and bariatric markets,...
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