DJO Global, Inc. (DJO) vascular health and pain management, announced that one of its indirect subsidiaries has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Dr. Comfort. The transaction is expected to close within 30 to 45 days.
“Dr. Comfort has expanded the diabetic footwear market by providing the medical community with a broad assortment of high quality and attractive prescription-based footwear styles in a market that has traditionally been served by unattractive and clinical-looking footwear products,” Les Cross, president and chief executive officer of DJO Global, stated in a press release. “With innovative thinking and sales channel expertise, Dr. Comfort has driven provider and patient awareness of medically necessary diabetic footwear as an important modality that can prevent more serious diabetic complications such as foot ulcers. As a result, Dr. Comfort has achieved very strong growth and the market leading position in diabetic footwear in the eight years it has been in business. “Use of prescribed therapeutic footwear by patients suffering from diabetes complications, such as peripheral neuropathy and poor circulation of the lower limbs, is proven effective treatment in preventing and treating foot ulcers, which can eventually lead to toe and foot amputations. Wearing the appropriate therapeutic footwear offers diabetes patients a significantly improved outcome with their disease and improves their overall quality of life. At the same time, medically necessary and prescribed therapeutic footwear can also reduce the high cost of care associated with diabetic foot ulcers and leg amputations, fitting nicely with DJO’s mission to provide effective and conservative treatment modalities while reducing the high cost of health care. With only a fraction of U.S. diabetic patients who need medically therapeutic shoes actually receiving them, Dr. Comfort has a robust runway for continued growth. Diabetes is a global disease, providing Dr. Comfort with a large international market opportunity, although most of Dr. Comfort’s current sales are in the U.S. On behalf of DJO, we look forward to Eric Lorenz, president of Dr. Comfort, his management team and the Dr. Comfort employee teams joining DJO Global. We look forward to our future growth opportunities together.”
