OrthoIndy history

In 1965 DePuy was sold to a group of investors led by Bill Weaver of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. of New York.

Primarily known for his work in pediatric orthopaedics, Garceau guided the department through 1966 when James Wray, MD, was appointed as the first full-time professor and chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

DePuy changed ownership again in 1968, when Bio-Dynamics, Inc., a blood diagnostic business, acquired it.

Fifty-one years later, in 1977, four men with orthopedic backgrounds formed another company called Biomet.

In 1979 the company gained the rights to use a new technology--a method of sintering a porous surface to orthopaedic implants, thereby allowing human tissue to be more effectively fixed--devised by Canadian Oxygen, Ltd.

In 1980 DePuy introduced its LCS Total Knee System, an artificial knee that used mobile (rather than fixed) bearings to duplicate more closely the mechanics of a healthy human knee.

James Lent, who had accrued considerable industry experience as the president of Johnson & Johnson's orthopaedic division, took over as company president in 1985 after Robert Williams's retirement.

In April of 1990, Boehringer Mannheim had acquired Charles F. Thackray Limited of Leeds, England.

In November of 1991, DePuy made Thackray its international headquarters and rechristened it DePuy International Ltd.

As part of this plan, DePuy acquired the Rotek Corporation in 1992.

1994: Corange purchases ACE Medical Products and forms new company, DePuy ACE Medical Co.

Corange partially spun off DePuy in 1996, selling 15.8 percent of the company in an initial public stock offering that raised $258 million (funds that DePuy earmarked for future acquisitions). Michael Dorner was installed as DePuy's newest president the same year.

By May of 1997, DePuy controlled a 17 percent share of the $7.3 billion orthopaedic market, second only to its old nemesis Zimmer.

DePuy itself was bought by Johnson & Johnson for $3.5 billion in November 1998.

The company had diversified to the point that 50 percent of its sales in 1999 occurred outside the United States.

In 2002, a former DePuy distributor, Rod Mayer, along with three partners founded Deo Volente Orthopedics (DVO) in a small building on Winona Avenue in Warsaw.

In March 2005, OrthoIndy opened its very own orthopedic hospital to better serve its patients.

OrthoPediatrics was founded by local orthopedic executives in 2006 to focus on the neglected field of orthopedic implants for children.

DVO would eventually be purchased by French company Tornier in 2007.

“It wasn’t exactly an accident of history, but it was an evolution over time, as one company spun off from another,” says Brad Bishop, executive director of OrthoWorx, formed in 2009 and funded by a grant from the Eli Lilly company.

In 2013, Nextremity Solutions moved its corporate headquarters from Red Bank, NJ to 210 North Buffalo St in Warsaw.

In 2014, Zimmer announced it would purchase Biomet and today the company is known as Zimmer Biomet.

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In 2017, Ignite Orthopedics opens its doors at 210 North Buffalo Street alongside the orthopedic giants in historic downtown Warsaw.

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