MicroPort
The Technology Shift in Orthopedics

Innovation drives success. The field of medicine has proven this time and time again, in part due to the revolutionary surgical solutions that have elevated medical care over the decades. These treatments have transformed medicine, and the orthopedics industry is no exception. Today, orthopedic companies around the world are constantly looking to the future with the intent to optimize surgeries for the benefit of patients and surgeons. It comes as no surprise that MicroPort Orthopedics, which specializes in reconstructive joint devices, shares this industry-wide ambition for success. But unlike others, MicroPort achieves continued success because innovation is the very backbone of the company and will always drive them forward.

MicroPort Orthopedics prides itself on delivering success on a global scale, thanks to the strong support it receives from its parent company, MicroPort Scientific, which is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The CEO and founder of MicroPort, Dr. Zhaohua Chang, envisioned an expansive global business that provide state-of-the-art medical devices and services to clients around the world. Currently, MicroPort Scientific has developed 12 business units, with a significant portion focused entirely on total orthopedic joint care. These business units are located across the globe and provide services in over 80 countries. MicroPort proudly operates under a single aligned global strategy, allowing the distinct businesses to collaborate and achieve the innovation necessary to drive Dr. Chang’s vision. This vision, combined with the strategic placement of business units around the world, effectively maximizes MicroPort’s presence in key markets. Additionally, the parent company’s location in Shanghai allows the business a unique and prominent position and access to the Chinese market.

In 2014, MicroPort Scientific expanded its global portfolio with the acquisition of Wright Medical’s total orthopedic joint business, transforming the US-based company into MicroPort Orthopedics known today as the sixth-largest global producer of orthopedic hip and knee technology. Building on Wright Medical’s 60 years of excellence, MicroPort Orthopedics leverages superior clinical results to improve patient outcomes and drive provider satisfaction across the globe, with unique access to global markets. MicroPort is transforming into a company driven by technology with the capability to strategize on a global level, yet act locally. MicroPort Orthopedics can not only play in multiple markets outside of North America, but can also drive specific initiatives that are specifically tailored to the voice of customers in local markets. “MicroPort Orthopedics’ philosophy is to not only engage our customers, but also to respond quickly to their requests,” asserts Benny Hagag, President of MicroPort Orthopedics. The ability to target, drive, and deliver core innovative solutions that are personalized to customers’ individual needs remains an integral mission of MicroPort.

Of course, the question arises – how does MicroPort Orthopedics drive innovation? And the answer is rather simple. The voice of the customer has always propelled the company forward, and it always will. MicroPort seeks to provide the resources necessary not just to produce efficient solutions, but to create new opportunities that inspire change and progress for years to come. This theme resonates throughout every one of MicroPort’s partnerships, as well as in its unique core technologies that hold decades of clinical heritage, which the company continues to expand and empower via new methods and instrumentation. MicroPort Orthopedics is recognized as the first orthopedics company to fully launch the Medial-Pivot knee implant design to market, a unique implant design that gained significant popularity in recent years thanks to its successful clinical performance when compared to more traditional posteriorstabilized designs. While many competitors are only just beginning to release similarly designed knee implants, MicroPort Orthopedics is now on its second generation of Medial-Pivot knees with the Evolution® Medial-Pivot total knee system.

MicroPort is a house for global opportunity with proven and trusted technologies that truly make a difference to the lives of our patients

But the implant alone is not enough – MicroPort proudly offers knee surgeons two alignment techniques with the addition of their latest Kinematic Alignment approach that launched earlier this year in specific markets worldwide. The Kinematic Alignment technique, intent on matching individual patient anatomy during operation to restore the patient’s original kinematics, embraces MicroPort’s mission of providing solutions that fit the individual needs of every patient.

This innovation also drives MicroPort’s total hip solutions. “We have a range of approaches which enable the surgeon to access the hip joint or replace it with minimum soft tissue damage, and therefore, minimizing surgical trauma,” mentions Jean Marc D’Hondt, Vice President of Marketing International of MicroPort. By partnering with key surgeons such as Dr. Jimmy Chow, MicroPort created a unique design utilizing portal instrumentation that allow surgeons to perform surgery through a smaller incision, benefiting both the surgeon and the patient. MicroPort Orthopedics now offers a portalassisted technique for both the superior and the anterior approach, allowing surgeons the ability to use their preferred approach in combination with MicroPort’s unique technology that can provide additional benefits throughout the operation such as tissue preservation.

The operation, however, is only a single point of focus in MicroPort’s overall strategy. Over the last 20 years, total joint replacement surgery has undergone a significant evolution. It was common in the early 2000’s for patients to recover post-operatively in a hospital for days, only to be moved to a skilled nursing facility for several weeks. Now, the narrative has changed. Patients today are routinely discharged after the procedure within a matter of hours. MicroPort Orthopedics seeks to further optimize patient care. The company is determined to improve patient outcomes and provider productivity by increasing efficiency throughout the entire Episode of Care, which they define as an extensive period of 90 days before and after the actual day of operation. In order to enhance the Episode of Care, MicroPort Orthopedics offers services and accessible digital resources that prepare patients both mentally and physically before the surgery, as well as allow patients to directly communicate with their doctor throughout the entire recovery process. This solution could not have come at a better time; the transformation of today’s healthcare system, combined with the lasting impact of COVID-19, has forced companies to adapt and prioritize innovation when considering the period of care. MicroPort Orthopedics’ recent collaboration and planned partnerships with likeminded companies and surgeons have allowed the company to advance toward positive patient outcomes and effective, streamlined procedures. The foundation of care has been established, and MicroPort will only continue listening to the demands of the field to act responsively and provide ground-breaking solutions that deliver, and surpass, expectations.

MicroPort’s success and progress can be directly credited to Dr. Zhaohua Chang’s overarching vision of a unified global company striving for a common goal. Innovation drives success, but it is nothing without the strategy and execution behind it. Once again, MicroPort’s global reach factors into play. “Our headquarters in China supports all the markets around the world that benefit us to deliver economical and state-of-the-art technologies and solutions,” remarks Jason Evans, GM for Japan Business of MicroPort Orthopedics. “And that speaks volumes to the way that we approach the business – both globally, and on the local level.”

By relying on the strength of their parent company, the individual business units of MicroPort can act locally with the mentality of a smaller, more free-flowing company, which can more easily focus their efforts on delivering solutions that are specific to local customer needs. The company structure, unique within the orthopedic space, allows each region greater flexibility, yet the bigger picture is always in mind. “MicroPort is a platform company; it is a house for a global opportunity with proven and trusted technologies that truly make a difference to the lives of our patients,” says Benny Hagag. “The data that we accumulate from across the world drives our strategy and our ability to define where we are today, and where we need to be in the future.”