Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), based in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, is theworld’s largest medical technology company and is a Fortune 500 company.Medtronic was founded in 1949 in a garage in northeast Minneapolis by Earl Bakken and his brother-in-law Palmer Hermundslie as a medical equipment repair shop. They originally wanted to sell basketball pumps due to a shortage in the Midwest in the 20th century. Bakken began as a graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota before he gave up his studies to focus on Medtronic.
Through their repair business, Bakken came to know C. Walton Lillehei, a pioneer in the field of heart surgery then at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Lillehei was frustrated with the pacemakers of the day, which were quite large, applied electrical current externally (requiring higher voltages), and had to be plugged in to a wall outlet to operate. The deficiencies of such pacemakers were made painfully obvious following a power outage over Halloween in 1957 which affected large sections of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.As a direct result of this blackout, a pediatric patient of Dr. Lillehei who was pacemaker-dependent died. The next day, Lillehei spoke with Bakken about developing some form of battery-powered pacemaker. Stemming from this need, Bakken modified a design for a transistorized metronome to create the first battery-powered external artificial pacemaker.
The company expanded through the 1950s, mostly selling equipment built by other companies, but also developing some custom devices. Bakken built a small transistorized pacemaker that could be strapped to the body and powered by batteries. Work into this new field continued, producing an implantable pacemaker in 1960. Medtronic’s main competitors in the cardiac rhythm field includeStryker Corporation, Boston Scientific and St. Jude Medical.
Business units
Medtronic is composed of six main business units which develop and manufacture devices and therapies to treat more than 30 chronic diseases, including (but not limited to) heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, urinary incontinence, obesity, chronic pain, spinal disorders, and diabetes.
Spinal &Biologics
Spinal and Biologics is Medtronic’s second largest business, and Medtronic is the world leader in spinal and musculoskeletal therapies. In 2007, Medtronic purchased Kyphon, a manufacturer and seller of spinal implants necessary for procedures like kyphoplasty.
The Spinal implants and spinal devices market, by technology, includes spinal fusion and fixation, vertebral compression fracture treatment, and motion preservation/non-fusion technologies. On the basis of products, the global spinal implants and spinal devices market is divided into six major segments, namely, thoracic fusion and lumbar fusion devices, cervical fusion devices, spine biologics, vertebral compression fracture treatment devices, motion preservation/non-fusion treatment devices, and spine bone stimulators. Bases on the type of surgery, the global spinal implants and spinal devices market is divided into two segments, namely, open surgery and minimally invasive surgery. The spinal decompression devices market, by type of procedure, covers discectomy, laminotomy/laminectomy, foraminotomy/foraminectomy, facetectomy, and corpectomy procedures.
The Spinal market is expected to reach USD 15.73 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2015 to 2020. As of 2015, North America is estimated to hold the largest share of the global spinal implants and spinal devices market, followed by Europe. However, the Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 8.2% from 2015 to 2020. A number of factors, including rising healthcare expenditure in developing nations owing to growing income levels, increasing government funding, presence of a large patient population, rising obesity cases, and growing awareness on the newly developed spine treatment techniques and devices are propelling the growth of the spinal implants and spinal devices market in the Asia-Pacific region. However, challenges associated with this market, such as scarcity of expertise and trained healthcare workers and lack of adequate patient awareness restricts the market growth in this region.
Source: marketsandmarkets.com