Lima Corporate said earlier this month it closed its purchase of Zimmer Biomet‘s (NYSE:ZBH) unicompartmental high flex knee and discovery elbow systems in the Japanese market, as well as the Japanese supply chain.
The deal closed after receiving approval from the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, Italian Lima said.
“ZUK, now rebranded Physica ZUK, will open doors in Japan for our rapid expansion into the knee segment also supporting the expected 2016 launch of Physica system, a new total knee prosthesis. Regarding extremities, we have recognized awareness in total shoulder arthroplasty in Japan also following the launch of our reverse total shoulder this year and the Discovery elbow system will allow us to expand our position in this market,” CEO Luigi Ferrari said in a press release.
Lima estimates the japanese knee market to be greater than $450 million, though the unicompartmental knee market only represents around 4.5%. The company’s Japanese elbow market estimation was greater than $2.4 million, Lima said.
“This agreement gives Lima Corporate a boost in the knee and extremities segments in Japan after the successful acquisition of these products previously completed for the European Economic Area and Switzerland last July,” Ferrari said in a prepared statement.
The deal was announced in October, with Lima saying it rebranded Zimmer’s Unicompartmental knee as the “Physica ZUK,” and will commercialize Physica as a new total knee replacement system expected to launch next year, the company said.
The assets add to those already owned by Lima, as the Italian orthopedic company purchased the rights within the European Economic Area and Switzerland for the knee and Elbow system in July. Lima Corporate also acquired Biomet’s Vanguard complete knee system in Denmark and Sweden in July.
