The Federal Trade Commission yesterday upheld an Administrative Law Judge’s decision that stated assets in the acquisition of Freedom Innovations by Otto Bock Healthcare North America must be divested. The FTC ordered Otto Bock to divest the assets of Freedom Innovations to an FTC-approved buyer. According to the commission, both companies were top sellers of […]
Otto Bock HealthCare
Private equity firms eye German prosthetic maker Ottobock
A handful of private equity groups are looking to get a piece of Germany’s Ottobock, the world’s largest maker of artificial limbs. Private equity groups KKR and CVC and buyout firms BC Partners and Advent are looking to pick up a 20% stake in the company, according to Reuters.* Ottobock is seeking the backing to […]
Ottobock mulls IPO
(Reuters) — German prosthetic limb and wheelchair maker Ottobock is aiming to float on the stock exchange in 2 years, its CEO told a German magazine. “We want to enter the stock exchange with our strongly growing healthcare business in 2017,” chief executive Hans Georg Naeder told Focus magazine. Healthcare – by far the largest of Ottobock’s 3 businesses […]
Appeals court denies Otto Bock’s bid to bar Össur prosthetics
Diabetes rates doubled in 30 years
MASSDEVICE ON CALL —The incidence of adults worldwide with diabetes has more than doubled over the last 30 years, according to a study published by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and Imperial College London.
The number of adults with diabetes rose from 153 million in 2008 to 347 million in 2008.
About 70 percent of the rise can be attributed to populating growth and aging, but the rest is driven by obesity, a direct result of worsening diets, researchers said.