Medtronic spikes another group purchasing organization contract for spinal products, this time with GPO giant Premier Inc.
Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) cancelled another contract with a group purchasing organization for its spinal products, this time with Premier Inc., after spiking five contracts with another GPO last week.
The Fridley, Minn.-based medical device giant killed five deals for its cardiovascular and orthopedic products worth a collective $2 billion last week, saying it would instead look to sell the items directly to hospitals. Spokesman Chris Garland told MassDevice in an email that the decision to end the Premier deal was made along the same lines.
“Our only comment is that we are confirming that our spinal business terminated a national contract with Premier,” Garland wrote. “We did this for the same reasons we terminated five Novation contracts earlier.”
Garland declined to comment on whether Medtronic is eyeing other contracts for the trash heap.
Wall Street appeared to like the move to end the Novation contract. It seems to favor the Premier news too; MDT shares were up 2.4 percent to $39.46 in mid-afternoon trading today.
The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.
