Bionic future -- Backers of science based businesses bet on orthopedic devices

The Commercial Appeal
September 24, 2006
By Daniel Connolly

When it comes to making new medicines, Memphis can point to successes, such as the chewable version of the Claritin anti-allergy drug recently developed at Schering-Plough's labs on Jackson.

But local backers of science-based businesses don't see drug research as the best way to create jobs in Memphis. Instead, they're focused on strengthening the city's large orthopedic medical device industry, said Steve Bares, president and executive director of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation.

The foundation's signature project, a $450 million research park under construction on the site of the former Baptist Memorial Hospital Downtown, will be designed primarily for orthopedic studies, not drug research, Bares said.

"Like all things, you've got to play to your strengths," he said.

Global medical device firms Medtronic and Smith & Nephew have large facilities here that produce everything from spinal implants to pins for piecing shattered bones back together. A third firm, Wright Medical Technology, has its headquarters in Arlington and produces artificial hips and other products.

Bares and others hope that they can expand the orthopedic field by promoting research and encouraging startup companies. They say there are several reasons why it makes sense to focus on medical devices rather than medicines.

Memphis already has seasoned professionals and networks of suppliers in the orthopedic medical device field, said Dick Tarr, president and executive director of the InMotion Musculoskeletal Institute, a research group meant to promote the industry.

And it's generally easier to obtain Food and Drug Administration approval for medical devices than for medicines, he said.

"It means you can get products to the market and start making dollars a lot faster," he said.

Also, drug factories must meet high standards for purity and are harder to build than medical device factories, he said.

And producing drugs requires many highly educated workers, a problem for Memphis, which has low education levels. The medical device industry also requires highly educated workers, but it has places for people without advanced degrees, Tarr said.

At Wright Medical Technology's plant in Arlington, for instance, some workers spend their day polishing metal implant parts on moving belts. The skill takes years to master, said Dick Magoon, who runs the plant. But it doesn't require a doctorate.

And there are also plenty of low-skilled jobs in distributing medicines and medical devices.

At Medtronic's distribution center near the Memphis International Airport, workers bustle through a huge warehouse as they prepare custom-made surgical kits. The jobs require precision and attention to detail, but no degrees in biology.

And Medtronic's operation is made possible by a resource most cities don't have: FedEx is based in Memphis and picks up the kits late at night for delivery around the globe.

Despite its advantages, Memphis lags far behind the national average in its proportion of scientific researchers among workers, according to InMotion.

Memphis needs further development to become a true leader in orthopedics, said Dr. John Stuart, a researcher and orthopedist affiliated with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Memphis Veterans Medical Center.

"You have to have an infrastructure," he said. "You have to have research that goes on at the university and an environment in which companies can grow from an idea into a product. It's been hard to develop that in Memphis."

He said he hasn't seen a critical mass of activity that would drive research forward.

"Probably not at the present time," he said. "And I think it's one of those things that's developing."

Daniel Connolly is a Business news reporter for The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at 529-5296.