Orthopedic confab draws big, small players
The biggest names in orthopedics worldwide will again descend on Fort Wayne to rub elbows with peers and compare notes on industry trends.
The second annual Orthopedic Design & Technology Conference and Expo at Grand Wayne Center is expected to be bigger than the first with more exhibitors and a 30 percent to 35 percent increase in attendance, according to preliminary organizer estimates. The two-day conference, which drew more than 400 last year, begins in earnest Tuesday after a welcome reception Monday evening.
In addition to the sold-out exhibition hall, which is expected to house 75 to 80 exhibitors, sessions will feature speakers from the executive suite to the surgery suite. Representatives from Warsaw’s orthopedic Big Three – Zimmer Holdings Inc., DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and Biomet Inc. – will be among those dispensing industry wisdom, as will orthopedic suppliers and physicians.
Original equipment manufacturers like the Big Three are the belles of the ball getting free admission to the conference. “OEMs” make and/or market finished products – such as hip and knee implants – for commercial distribution.
“We really feel that the target audience is the OEMs; … we didn’t want price to be a barrier,” said Mary Adams, conference director.
Still, organizers say it’s not just companies selling directly to health care providers that stand to benefit from the conference. For the second year, medical wire maker Fort Wayne Metals, a supplier to the orthopedic industry, is an event sponsor.
“We’re investing some money in this event because we think it’s important not only for our company but for Fort Wayne in general,” said Bob Myers, the company’s executive vice president in charge of commercial affairs. The company sees orthopedics, which account for about 13 percent of its sales, as an area for potential growth.
Along with a company booth in the exhibit hall, Myers will be a session chairman for a few hours Tuesday, introducing several speakers on engineering and design. It’s one half of concurrent breakout sessions new to the conference this year. The other track will focus on manufacturing business issues.
Medical speakers will also have an increased presence.
Among those, Dr. Brian Hainline, chief medical officer for the U.S. Open tennis tournament, will discuss causes of chronic back pain, drawing from his book, “Back Pain Understood: A Cutting-Edge Approach to Healing Your Back.” Hainline, a pain medicine and sports medicine expert based in Lake Success, N.Y., spent several summers in the late 1970s as the tennis pro at Fort Wayne Country Club.
This time around, instead of tennis players he’ll be talking to orthopedic movers and shakers.
Hainline said it’s critical to consider all possible causes of chronic pain before determining treatment. Different patients experience pain in different ways, he said, adding that many medical issues have emotional links.
In deciding whether to use a device, such as an artificial disc, doctors must make sure the problem has “a very precise anatomical origin.” If that’s not the primary cause of back pain than artificial disc replacement will be a failure, he said.
“I recommend surgery a lot,” Hainline said, but the neurologist cautions against seeing it as a panacea. “My fear is that (disc replacement) is going to be embraced too quickly just as spinal fusion was.”
Though tempered, Hainline is cautiously optimistic about the future of disc replacement. He’s looking forward to talking with orthopedic industry officials, a change from his usual audience of physicians.
Overall, conference producer Howard Revitch is confident this year’s event will build on the success of the inaugural conference.
“We’ve been happy with all the support we’ve had,” said Revitch, group publisher of sponsor trade magazine Orthopedic Design & Technology. He added that Grand Wayne Center has been accommodating.
Based on the initial response for the second annual conference, Revitch said he’s already committed to having the event in 2008.
mschroeder@jg.net
