MediPurpose™ Blog

“SurgiLance: Penetrating the U.S. Healthcare Market,” picks up where “SurgiLance: From Concept to Commercialization” left off.

If you are interested in helping to educate aspiring medical device inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs, please share your experiences and insights on how you navigated the U.S. healthcare market for your medical product.

Although the MediPurpose business model is primarily structured to distribute our medical products through a multitude of domestic and international healthcare distributors, over the years, MediPurpose has become completely proficient and skilled as a distributor in its own right.

This notion of being able to facilitate, manage and direct all areas of medical product distribution is something that Webster might say makes us a master distributor.

However, calling ourselves a "master" distributor is a pretty strong claim—especially when considering the magnitude of our competitors and the strength of our medical product distribution partners—but I believe it is an appropriate label, particularly in the context of our medical product distribution capabilities. For instance:

• In a previous blog, I wrote about our ability to enter multiple channels through multiple medical product distribution partners for the same medical product, thereby increasing market penetration, eliminating channel conflict and maximizing our products' availability.

• Our extensive partnerships allow us to get our medical products into virtually every department within an acute care setting—as well as within alternate care, POS and long-term care facilities.

• As the manufacturer of the SurgiLance® Safety Lancet, we have established both the contract manufacturing relationships and logistical capabilities to get our medical products from them to our warehouse...and then again out to our customers.

• Our medical product acceptance has driven the inclusion of our products within most major medical GPO contracts.

• Our comprehensive understanding of the regulatory requirements (both from a manufacturing/ISO and FDA/CE perspective) is clearly established.

So, as I discover what it truly means to completely proficient or skilled at marketing medical products, MediPurpose will continue to develop its position as a master distributor.

Over the years, I've worn both distributor and OEM hats—and whether for my own company or for the numerous other companies that we have assisted, I have routinely been faced with the same difficult decision: Which company can best serve me in getting my medical product to market?

To resolve this quandary, I typically consider a number of key concepts and criteria, including:

• The product: For example, is it a unique medical product with specific features that requires detailing, or is it perhaps more of a "me too" product that would likely be intuitive to the typical end user?

• Available margin: Some medical product dealers and/or resellers require very high margins, while others are more eager to sacrifice some of that margin, particularly if the product offers them marketing advantages and/or fills a product gap within their segment product offering.

• Channel conflict: For instance, Distributor A—who is a major player and has consider cache in medical product distribution—agrees to take on your medical product, but with one condition: They want exclusivity or don't want you to do business with their competitor, Distributor B. Is the reduction in market potential and access worth the compromise?

• End user: Every company has their "best call points" within the facilities on which they call. Choosing a company that "services them all" or does not currently call on the "best call point for your product" is clearly a formula for "no sales," or at best, "less than desired sales."

I recently used this very set of criteria to develop a "market launch redo" for a medical product company that was in an unfortunate agreement with a large "box mover."

The company's limited-margin availability had compelled them to participate in an exclusive agreement-which drastically diminished their anticipated market/unit sales and handcuffed them after their product languished on shelves.