Pierceton-based Paragon Medical plans to invest in a bio-skills campus in the Warsaw area. The northern Indiana supplier of surgical instruments said the lab would support the OrthoWorx project recently launched by Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads to help the Warsaw orthopedics industry transition to biology-based products that could render the sector’s current products obsolete.

Orthopedics implant makers have seen their business embraced more by Wall Street lately. Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings Inc. has watched its share price rise about 20 percent in the past three months. Its competitors, such as Michigan-based Stryker Corp., have also experienced nice gains. Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn Partners, told MarketWatch, "It's been a slow progression as investors realized that even with "ObamaCare," people are still going to want to have knee replacements.”

The impact of health reform on innovation will be the topic at the next Life Sciences Lunch at the downtown offices of Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburgh LLP. Allison Giles, vice president of federal affairs at Cook Group Inc., will speak. Bloomington-based Cook is among the medical-device firms that have complained loudly that a tax on medical-device companies’ revenue would force companies to cut jobs and slow down on innovation. Additional speakers have yet to be named. The lunch is scheduled for Dec. 15 at 11: 30 a.m.