Originally Published MX September/October 2004

Return to Article: Medical Device Marketing

ADVERTISING, DISTRIBUTION, & SALES

Honored at MMA's recent In-Awe ceremony were team members from Jocoto Advertising (left to right): Steve Coldicon, creative director; John O'Brien, director of operations; Collette Kuhnsman, senior account manager; and Tom Collins, art director. (click to enlarge)

In the summer of 2003, leading ophthalmic device manufacturer Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc. (Dublin, CA) made what turned out to be an aggressive and highly rewarding decision. With the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) rapidly approaching, Zeiss decided to design and construct a new 80 x 100-ft trade show booth. But the company feared that without some help, the new booth would end up looking just like the old booth.

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

GOVERNMENTAL & LEGAL AFFAIRS

The activities of medical device firms in Washington, DC, encompass a whole lot more than just lobbying.

Moderated by Steve Halasey

Sidebar: Roundtable Participants

Healthcare provision in the United States is largely a federalized industry. Its epicenter is the seat of national government, Washington, DC. There, policy is made through healthcare-related and specifically medical technology–related legislation and via the regulatory and reimbursement decisions of federal agencies that oversee aspects of healthcare delivery ranging from new product introduction to payment for services.

Originally Published MDDI September 2004

NEWSTRENDS

Erik Swain

Device industry investors have considered the spinal market a hot one for several years now. That proved true again in July when orthopedics giant Stryker Corp. (Kalamazoo, MI) announced its plans to buy SpineCore, an emerging spine-technology company located in Summit, NJ. Like several companies that are working to develop products for the spine market, SpineCore's technology purports to replace degenerated disks and alleviate spinal pain without immobilizing any spinal segments. 

The company is currently developing two potentially significant products. One, FlexiCore, is a lumbar artificial disk. The other, CerviCore, is a cervical artificial disk. Both products could emerge as alternatives to spinal fusion and other procedures that often result in loss of spinal motion. The nonfusion spine-technology market, virtually nonexistent now, could reach nearly $1 billion by 2008. (See “Market Snapshot,” MD&DI, July 2004, p. 114.)

Under terms of the acquisition, Stryker will pay $120 million in cash up front and could pay as much as $240 million more, depending on whether the technologies receive FDA approval. 

A clinical trial is currently being held for FlexiCore under an investigational device exemption (IDE). An IDE application for CerviCore is expected to be filed by the end of 2004, and its trial should begin in 2005. Stryker said it expects to be able to submit PMA applications for FlexiCore and CerviCore in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

“We believe SpineCore's products represent the first of a next generation of artificial disks,” said Stephen P. MacMillan, Stryker's president and COO. “These products, with patented features, embody the latest design advances so as to better restore natural range of motion and allow for simpler, safer insertion.” 

“The SpineCore team is delighted to join forces with Stryker in our effort to bring motion preservation technology to market,” added spine surgeon Thomas J. Errico, a founder and director of SpineCore. He went on to say that “the combination of our technology and Stryker's experience and resources will allow the SpineCore products to achieve their full potential. We believe strongly in the future role of motion preservation products in the spine.”

However, SpineCore's products could have competition when they enter the marketplace. Johnson & Johnson's Depuy Spine Inc. (Raynham, MA) expects its artificial disk to receive marketing clearance early next year. In addition, Medtronic Sofamor Danek Inc. (Richmond, VA) could have its disk approved as early as 2006. Also in the artificial-disk sector are Cervitech Inc. (Rockaway, NJ); Synthes Inc. (Oberdorf, Switzerland); and Scient'X (Guyancourt, France).

Copyright ©2004 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

SPECIAL REPORT: IT IN HEALTHCARE

Return to Article: Visions of the Future

A wide variety of healthcare organizations have an interest in the implementation of information technologies—including several whose membership is dominated by healthcare professionals, hospital representatives, or members of the payer community. Following is a short list of on-line locations for some of the most important and active organizations and significant programs in the field.

Center for Health Informatics and Multiprofessional Education
www.hi-europe.info/files/ 1998_9/chime.htm

Connecting for Health
www.connectingforhealth.org

Foundation for eHealth Initiative
www.ehealthinitiative.org

Health Care Technology Project
www.hctproject.com

Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC)
www.hibcc.org

Health Information Technology Summit
www.hitsummit.com

Health Level 7
www.hl7.org

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
www.himss.org/ASP/index.asp

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)
www.rsna.org/IHE/index.shtml

Joint Healthcare Information Technology Alliance (JHITA)
www.jhita.org

Markle Foundation
www.markle.org

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

COVER STORY

Interview by Steve Halasey

Sidebars: Integrated Technologies Transform Healthcare Delivery A Product with a Vision

Almost by definition, executives of medical technology companies are visionaries. Whether their strengths lie in inventing medical products or creating opportunities for business growth, such leaders share an ability to conjure up ideas that few others have imagined.

Successful high-tech medical companies rely heavily on such executive vision. Company leaders with strong insight into global market conditions guide their firms to positions of strength in a competitive environment. And leaders with extraordinary foresight lead their companies to develop technologies that anticipate the needs of the healthcare marketplace.

Erich R. Reinhardt, president and CEO of Siemens Medical Solutions, on innovation and imaging in the future of healthcare.

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

ADVERTISING, DISTRIBUTION, & SALES

Return to Article: Medical Device Marketing

In the ultracompetitive world of medical marketing, smart companies pay attention to every detail of their selling proposition. A particularly successful example of this kind of dedication is provided by Fujifilm Medical Systems USA Inc. (Stamford, CT) and its idea to put special emphasis on branding its DryPix line of dry imagers.

The DryPix Difference logo, developed by Marquardt & Roche and Partners, sets the DryPix line of dry imagers apart with its nontraditional design. (click to enlarge)

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

GOVERNMENTAL & LEGAL AFFAIRS

Suppliers of durable medical equipment must go toe-to-toe on price. Will manufacturers be just interested bystanders?

Jesse A. Witten and Renee M. Howard

With its passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, Congress mandated a fundamental change in the way Medicare reimburses suppliers of durable medical equipment (DME).¹ Beginning in 2007, Medicare will pay for major items of DME according to the results of a competitive bidding process.

Originally Published MDDI September 2004

NEWSTRENDS

On page 142 of the August 2004 Issue, a photo of Steve Ferguson, chairman of Cook Group Inc., was incorrectly identified as Bill Cook, the founder of Cook Group Inc. MD&DI regrets the error. Cook's official portrait is at right.

Copyright ©2004 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

SPECIAL REPORT: IT IN HEALTHCARE

Return to Article: Visions of the Future

(IHE) is not an organization but an initiative sponsored by several leading organizations. It was started in November 1998 by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the Radiological Society of North America. Last year, the American College of Cardiology also became a sponsor.

IHE's members include experts in a wide range of healthcare fields, but the initiative is distinctive in having a more defined focus than most groups with an interest in healthcare IT. Its avowed purpose is to drive the adoption of standards across the entire healthcare universe, in order to enable health information to be passed through the entire system. Such standards are, in effect, the universal language for transmitting digital information in healthcare, and the emphasis on standards determines the IHE agenda.

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

EDITOR'S PAGE

Issues specific to the medical technology community don't often rise to the level of national debate. But in an election year, anything is possible.

For the leaders of medical technology companies, there seems to be no end to the number of issues that require the attention of elected leaders and policymakers. From the moment that a company begins to develop a new product, for instance, it falls subject to all the requirements and nuances related to intellectual property protection—including measures to prevent international piracy and counterfeiting. And somewhere, no doubt, there is a medical device company that yearns to revise the laws in this area in order to redress some injustice that has befallen it.