Zimmer Buys Abbott: Difficult Times Ahead in Spine

With the news last month that Abbott is selling its spine business to Zimmer for around $360 million, it may be hard to recall that less than two years ago Abbott was one of the finalists in the pricey sweepstakes to buy St. Francis Medical Technologies, losing out to Kyphon Inc. (now part of Medtronic PLC) in a deal that would eventually fetch $725 million or that, just four years earlier than that, Abbott Laboratories’ acquisition of Spinal Concepts (now Abbott Spine), was part of an ambitious plan to target the hot and fast-growing segment of spine devices as its next major play in medtech, following an earlier effort to build a cardiovascular franchise. [See Deal][See Deal]. (See "Spinal Concepts: Leading Abbott into the Spine Market," IN VIVO, July 2004 Also see "Spinal Concepts: Leading Abbott into the Spine Market" - In Vivo, 1 July, 2004..)

Indeed, six years ago, when Abbott bought Spinal Concepts to get into spine, the deal seemed rich in promise, notwithstanding...