Developing new products to improve patient care is the best part of being in the medical device industry. Who can argue with that?
You’ll find the most exciting devices being developed in venture-funded start-ups – a structure that provides the single-minded, do-or-die focus needed for success, along with the risk capital needed to fuel the work. Here in New England, we have a great medical device start-up ecosystem, with dozens of companies working to solve significant medical problems with great new devices.
Each quarter, the MoneyTree Survey lists virtually all venture financings in the US. The 2011 Q1 numbers just came out. Reviewing the data, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the New England medical device companies started in the past several years.
We all know social networking as a major time-suck, real-time news source, and practical job-hunting tool. We also know that patients can often get better health information from the web than they can from their health care provider (e.g. WebMD.com). When ‘social networking’ meets ‘the search for health information’ we get online patient communities. Facebook, Twitter and GetSatisfaction are just the tip of the social iceberg. PatientsLikeMe and CureTogether are just two of the best known of dozens of web-based social networks for patients. The NY Times calls patient-centered social networks a “Lifeline for the Chronically Ill.” For medical device companies, patient-centered social networks bring new challenges and new opportunities.
As online communities have evolved from BBS’s and usenet groups, to forums and yahoo groups, to social networks and blogs, the quantity and quality of direct patient-to-patient interaction has dramatically increased. In March 2009, an article in Forbes called these new patient-centric social networks a disruptive innovation in patient care (Disruptor of the Month: Creating A New Kind Of Health Care Community by Renee Hopkins Callahan). If you’re developing a novel device or a novel procedure, there’s a chance you are already the subject of an online patient conversation. The more patient-facing your product (either used-by or implanted-in a patient), the more likely patients will share their experiences with each other online.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the growing trend of physicians being employed directly by hospitals rather than in private practices, and how this trend impacts medical device opportunities. Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article “Medical-Device Firms Lose Clout As Hospitals Buy Practices” which is well worth reading. This week, PWC released a report “Health Reform is Driving Hospitals and Physicians Together.” Have you analyzed the impact of this trend on your medical device market over the next few years?
Developing new products to improve patient care is the best part of being in the medical device industry. Who can argue with that?
Jay Caplan on Medical Devices 