Improved Marketing Strategies Contribute to IVD Companies' Success

The global economic crisis may give the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) industry an opportunity to achieve commercial success. To do so the industry must earn the approval of several different groups: regulators, payer organizations, healthcare providers, and physicians, all of whom ultimately determine the value of a product and how well it will do in the market. For this reason, strategic market-focused product development and effective commercialization are crucial.

Early adopters--laboratories, leading researchers, and physicians also play an influential role in the development and commercialization of new IVD tests. They are critical to the rapid adoption of new products by most potential users, and should be part of the strategy, according to new market research.

There are several hundred new tests and test platforms in development and near market. If all of these devices make it to market, only some will successfully penetrate it. With the average cost of developing a new diagnostic test at least US$100-200 million, companies will need to improve the efficiency of their research and development and commercialization processes.

Marketing mature products involves a keen understanding of the market parameters that companies can control--product design, pricing, distribution options, and sales training and promotions. The countries where companies intend to market their products must also be considered seriously, whether it is North or South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, China, or Australia. Companies should invest in research that allows them to understand market parameters that are not in their purview to manage. These uncontrollable elements include economic trends that may result in unexpected obstacles and actions taken by competitors.

Kalorama Information's (Rockville, MD, USA) diagnostic expert, Shara Rosen, R.T. M.B.A. reported that evidence-based medicine is becoming more critical for product success as advances in medical technology create increasingly sophisticated and costly new tests. "Companies might be tempted to reduce spending on marketing in a recession,” said Ms. Rosen "But the reality is that to impress increasingly skeptical payers, they may have to spend more.”

Kalorama Information supplies the latest in independent market research in the life sciences, as well as a full range of custom research services.

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