Stryker Set for Unprecedented M&A Run

Stryker has closed its acquisition of Vertos Medical, a little more than a month after the deal was first announced. This marks the fourth deal the Kalamazoo, MI-based company has been involved with since August.

Vertos specializes in interventional pain management solutions for chronic lower back pain caused by lumber spinal stenosis.

Spencer Stiles, group president, for orthopedics and spine spoke about the deal in September, during the Stryker Corporation Wells Fargo 2024 Healthcare Conference.

“It's a really unique, minimally invasive way to do some soft tissue resection that removes some of the strain on the spinal cord that's causing this pain on some of the nerves,” Stiles said of Vertos’s therapy, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the call. “What's great about that? That's much earlier in the care environment and treatment for somebody versus a fusion. And what's wonderful? There are great clinical results behind that procedure. There's great growth. There's a significant patient population that qualifies for those particular procedures. And for whatever reason, if it doesn't work the way that its planned, it's not perfect, but if it doesn't, you still have these other interventions later on in the care environment, something like a fusion, for example.”

Related:Stryker CEO Delivers on Promise of More Deals

Stryker has been on an unprecedented acquisition spree. While it doesn’t top the nine deals Boston Scientific announced in 2018, what stands out about Stryker’s run is it’s quickness in closing the acquisitions.

“It's been a really good M&A season for us,” Stiles said according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the call. “So, I'd leave us with that. We've been active again. Our expectations remain high there. Focused on tuck-ins, but we have some other things that we're looking at as well, and we expect more deals in our horizon.”