Analyst: Zimmer's newly launched Persona knee is more evolutionary than revolutionary

Last week Zimmer launched a new medical device at the annual conference of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons with this bold declaration: Zimmer Launches A New Era in Knee Replacement with Persona, the Personalized Knee Replacement System.

An analyst and physicians he spoke with at the conference think about the Persona knee in much less dramatic terms.

Zimmer's goal for the Persona knee was to provide the best fit, natural feel and normal function for patients who are demanding that artificial joints feel and function more like regular joints do, the company said in its press release.

"We designed the Persona System to meet the demands of today's patients and provide unmatched surgical precision for surgeons, all in the context of concerns about the total cost of care. The Persona System was designed to help hospitals deliver high quality, consistent outcomes while reducing total costs," said Jeff McCaulley, president of Zimmer Global Reconstructive. "Zimmer has long been the global leader in knee replacement technology, but with the Person System and our new intelligent instrument offerings, we are revolutionizing the standard of care for patients for the next decade and beyond."

But senior analyst Glenn Novarro at RBC Capital Markets said that the device is more evolutionary than revolutionary although he did give the company points for its strong marketing which created that elusive phenomenon in the marketing world: buzz. It got a lot of people to come into the Zimmer booth, he noted in his March 21 research note. But this is how he characterized the Persona product: 

"Post [Zimmer's] presentation on Persona and our conversations with surgeons outside of the meeting, we believe that [Zimmer] has developed a very strong primary knee platform with Persona as well as improved the instrumentation for this procedure. We would not describe the product as “revolutionary”, but we do believe that [Zimmer] has one of the most attractive knee platforms out on the U.S. market with Persona, iASSIST, and eLIBRA," he said.

He added that he would be surprised if the company did not "return to a market share taking position by mid 2013.

Another product that Novarro put in the same "evolutionary" category as Zimmer's Persona was Johnson & Johnson's new knee Attune.

-- By Arundhati Parmar, Senior Editor, MD+DI

Kevin R. Stone, MD, will discuss biologics and the future of knee replacement at OrthoTec, 2013, June 5-6, 2013 in Winona Lake (Warsaw), IN. 

Related Coverage from AAOS Conference

At AAOS Hips and Joints Bend for Business

At AAOS, Surgeons Debate Accountable Care and the Role of Devices