Mentor Medical Device Company Intelligence Report

Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports provide a full review of the company's activities, from its origins to its latest corporate activity, including mergers and acquisitions, agreements, divestitures, major purchasing contracts and litigation. Sections are included on products, international activities and R&D, as well as a full, in-depth five year financial analysis. An introduction to each report and a full table of contents is provided for review. More than 60 Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports are currently available.

Mentor Corporation was founded in 1969 as a small urology company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The product line introduced in the first year consisted of several electronic laboratory instruments for the detection and measurement of the electrical activity of nerve cells and neural systems, and development began on new devices to control urological disorders by electrical nerve stimulation.

Mentor's involvement in urology led to the development of new disposable products for managing urinary control problems. In 1984, Mentor acquired the Heyer-Schulte division of American Hospital Supply located in Santa Barbara, California. The acquisition more than doubled Mentor's sales and diversified its product lines. Heyer-Schulte produced several implantable products, including breast implants, and gave Mentor a leading position in the plastic surgery market. Mentor moved its headquarters from Minneapolis to the Heyer-Schulte facilities in Santa Barbara in 1985.

In 1990, Mentor acquired Mentor O&O, an ophthalmology product manufacturer based in Boston. In 1999, Mentor divested the ophthalmology division as a strategic decision to concentrate its future efforts in plastic and reconstructive surgery and urology where the company had strong market leadership.

In June 2006, Mentor divested the urology business to Coloplast in order to focus more fully on expanding the company's global position in the field of aesthetic medicine. The sale included two subsidiaries; Porgès and Mills Biopharmaceuticals. As a result of this transaction, Mentor lost 1,090 of its 2,040 employees at 31st March 2006 and US$235.5 million of the US$503.7 million in sales it generated in fiscal 2006. This bold move was part of a strategy announced in October 2005, whereby Mentor decided to increase its focus on aesthetic medicine, an area it viewed as a significant growth opportunity. As part of this strategy, in November 2005, Mentor proposed a merger with its competitor, Medicis, a key player in the dermatology and cosmetic dermatology markets. However, Medicis unanimously rejected the proposal and remains a standalone company.

Mentor's products now principally consist of breast implants, tissue expanders, products for traditional liposuction, dermal fillers, cosmetic surgery software and ultrasound-assisted products for soft tissue aspiration in general and cosmetic applications.

In 2007, Mentor acquired French breast implant manufacturer Perouse Plastie to expand its product portfolio and international market leadership. This acquisition provided manufacturing facilities in France and Mauritius to complement its existing factories in the US and the Netherlands.

Mentor's Aesthetics franchise also includes the Byron line of lipoplasty products for body contouring and the Caromed line of post-surgical garments to help the healing process. In addition, Mentor offers a practice management service called Mentor Solutions. The latter includes the operations of Inform Solutions, which Mentor acquired in 2003, and offers software, consulting and business management tools to help plastic surgeons improve their business.

Mentor recently expanded into the cosmetic dermatology market with the addition of Prevelle Silk, a hyaluronic acid (HA)-based dermal filler that includes lidocaine to reduce the pain of injection. This product is the first in a line of "comfort" based HA products. Mentor is developing Purtox, a highly-purified botulinum toxin product, which is in Phase III trials in the US.

In 2009, Mentor was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in a transaction valued at approximately US$1.07 billion. Mentor operates as a stand-alone business unit reporting through Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company and a leading provider of suture, mesh, haemostats and other products for a range of surgical procedures. The inclusion of Mentor into the Johnson & Johnson group provides Ethicon with an opportunity to strengthen its presence in aesthetic and reconstructive medicine. For Mentor, the transaction should allow the company to expand its product portfolio and grow its global reach.