Businessweek

ArthroCare Corporation, a medical device company, develops, manufactures, and markets surgical products. Business The company’s business consists of two core product areas, Sports Medicine, and Ear Nose and Throat (ENT). It also manufactures and sells products based on its technology designed for other procedures. The company’s Sports Medicine, ENT, and Other products are marketed and sold through two primary geographic distribution channels, such as Americas (North and South America) and International (various other geographies). Majority of the company’s primary products are based on its patented Coblation technology, which uses bipolar radiofrequency energy to generate a precisely focused plasma field to remove and shape soft tissues, such as cartilage and tendons. The company’s bipolar Coblation devices also include both an active and return electrode at the tip, and in contrast to other bipolar devices, apply electrical energy in a conductive medium at the surgical site. The electrical energy along with electrically conductive fluid, which is found in normal saline solutions, form an ionized vapor layer, or plasma field, around the active electrode of the Coblation device. This plasma field enables its Coblation-based products to operate at lower operating temperatures than traditional devices, minimizing tissue necrosis and damage when compared to traditional bipolar or monopolar instruments. The company’s Coblation-based systems consist of a controller unit with accessories and an assortment of sterile, single-use disposable devices that are engineered to address specific types of procedures. A single multi-purpose surgical system using Coblation technology could replace the multiple surgical tools used in soft-tissue surgery procedures. The company has applied Coblation technology to soft-tissue surgery throughout the body and commercializes products, primarily in the areas of arthroscopic sports medicine, ENT, spine, and wound debridement applications. It also licenses its Coblation technology to other companies in various fields of use and might explore the use of Coblation technology in other applications. Sports Medicine The company’s Sports Medicine product area focuses on the development, production, and marketing of advanced energy-based systems and fixation technologies used in the treatment of soft tissue injuries, primarily in shoulders, knees, and hips. Included in Sports Medicine product sales are disposable surgical devices and implants based on its technologies that the company contract manufactures for other companies. Its technologies allow surgeons to precisely remove targeted soft-tissue while minimizing collateral tissue damage; facilitate repair of specific anatomical structures; and help restore function and patient activity. Sports Medicine Products The ArthroCare Sports Medicine product portfolio includes two proprietary platforms, Coblation and Soft-Tissue Fixation. The products in each platform could be used separately or together in a range of clinical applications in the field of Sports Medicine. Coblation: The company’s Coblation platform has been a principal product line in Sports Medicine. This line features a series of specialized disposable, energy-based surgical wands, called ArthroWands, designed for single patient use to treat various orthopedic conditions, including injuries of the shoulder, knee, hip, foot, ankle, elbow, and wrist. ArthroWands are used with a controller, a software-based generator that provides energy in a precise manner to ablate, resect, and sculpt soft tissue and to seal bleeding vessels arthroscopically. The company’s Coblation portfolio includes the Ambient family of ArthroWands, the only wands on the market that allow surgeons to interoperatively monitor the temperature of the circulating fluid in the joint. Soft-Tissue Fixation: The Soft-Tissue Fixation product portfolio includes a line of specialized implants and instruments, including knotless and traditional anchors for rotator cuff and labrum repairs in the shoulder, screws for ligament reconstruction in the knee, various arthroscopic suture passers, and an offerin