Shares in Wright Medical (NSDQ:WMGI) are off some -7% today after an analyst said early adopters of its Cartiva toe implant are cutting back.
Memphis-based Wright last October paid $435 million for Cartiva and its synthetic cartilage implant for treating arthritis in the big toe. Cartiva won pre-market approval from the FDA for the SCI implant in July 2016 (the device won CE Mark approval in the European Union back in 2002). It’s made of an organic polymer designed to mimic the function of human cartilage.
Today RBC Capital analyst Brandon Henry wrote in a note to investors that “less positive” market feedback on Cartiva indicates that some early-adopting surgeons cut back on their use of the implant and that Cartive “may not be the panacea some initially hoped for,” Seeking Alpha reported.
Henry maintained an “outperform” rating on WMGI shares but cut his price target from $36 to $34, according to the website. It’s the second time the stock has come under pressure from negative Cartiva news, after Wells Fargo said June 20 that some doctors stopped using the implant on durability concerns. WMGI shares closed off -4.4% at $30.48 apiece that day.
The stock was down -6.8% to $27.90 today in mid-day trading, after having fallen as much as -8.0% to $27.53 per share.