Covidien: Biological Mesh Market Has 'Collapsed'

Covidien (Mansfield) announced that one of its product lines had fallen short of its financial expectations. During a CitiGroup investment conference, CFO Charles Dockendorff stated that Covidien's biologic tissue mesh products for hernia repair had "hit a brick wall." He continued: "And while there was a case to be made when people were using them in highly infected tissue patients, without [the claim for use in those patients] and without that marketing behind it, that market has just collapsed across-the-board."Dockendorff stated, in response to questioning from Citigroup analyst Matthew Dodds, "Hernia has been very, very interesting because we continue to have a lot of success in the synthetic mesh market. I don't see that as changing."Dockendorff further said, "In fact, we are launching small interactive new products there that you're going to be seeing throughout the year. The other two components of hernia, though, have been really interesting. So biological mesh has just hit a brick wall for a lot of different reasons."According to him, the company has experienced lowered sales due to higher pricing of its biologic mesh under the Permacol brand. The Permacol biologic mesh is a specialized porcine dermal collagen implant designed for abdominal wall and hernia repair. The company originally acquired the Permacol business from Tissue Science Labs, a medical device manufacturer based in Andover, Massachusetts. Covidien purchased the company in 2008 for an estimated $80 million.