(By Balaseshan) Misonix Inc. (NASDAQ: MSON), which manufactures minimally invasive ultrasonic surgical device products, said it has terminated its distribution agreement with Aesculap Inc. for the Misonix BoneScalpel Ultrasonic Bone Cutting System.
Under the non-exclusive distribution agreement, Aesculap retains the right to sell BoneScalpel disposables to certain, limited hospital accounts, post termination, which are covered by binding supply agreements for varying periods of time, but not to exceed 3 years.
An additional aspect of the cancellation requires Misonix to purchase all hardware inventory in Aesculap's possession. This inventory will feature prominently in the company's plans to support its rapidly growing, proprietary sales organization with equipment for sales, demonstration and evaluation purposes.
Since January 2011, Aesculap has been a non-exclusive, private label distributor of the BoneScalpel in the United States, for clinical applications in spine surgery and cranial surgery.
Misonix, to date, has appointed and trained upwards of 40 independent sales agencies, with more than 200 salespeople, to market its BoneScalpel product line to neurosurgeons, spine surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and cranio maxillo-facial surgeons, backed by its own sales & marketing management team.
The BoneScalpel is a novel ultrasonic osteotome used for safe, tissue-selective bone dissection that encourages en-bloc bone removal and refined osteotomies while sparing elastic soft tissue structures.
Most users report that the surgical field is relatively bloodless and clean. Loss of viable bone is minimal and controllable. The BoneScalpel has been used extensively for bone removal in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, including deformity surgery, as well as a variety of 'skull based' surgical procedures.
MSON closed Tuesday's regular session up 7.69% at $7. The stock has been trading between $1.60 and $7.09 for the past 52 weeks.