Medical marketing methods

Traditional applications of polycarbonate in the medical market, such as filter housings, tubing connectors, and surgical staplers, have relied on the materials unique combination of strength, purity, transparency, and ability to stand all sterili2ation methods (steam, ethylene oxide gas, and gamma radiation). Polycarbonate-based blends blends and copolymers have further extended the materials usefulness to medical applications. 

Specific polymeric materials traditionally used for medical applications have been recently withdrawn from the medical market. Silicone elastomers are among those withdrawn. To maintain continued supply of vital implants, methods of determining equivalence for withdrawn elastomers with new or existing ones has been adopted by the FDA in the form of an FDA Guidance Document. 

In medical markets, there are stringent regulatory requirements that must be met before a material can be used for a particular application. It is important to ensure that products that come into close contact with people do not contain any harmful substances that may damage health. Also, more stringent sterilisation methods are generally required for medical devices. Products and materials used for medical applications must be fully characterised, validated and tested for a variety of specifications including USP Class VI, ISO 10993, European Pharmacopoeia and FDA criteria. The EU Medical Devices Directive (93/42/EC) is the most recent framework for specification of medical devices in the European Union. 

Because of their relative ease of production and cost compared with other methods of sustained or controlled delivery, dissolution and diffusion-controlled systems have classically been of primary importance in oral delivery of medication. Dissolution systems have been some of the oldest and most successful oral systems in early attempts to market sustaining products. 

To decide on the allocation of public and private resources, some form of cost-effectiveness analysis is used in many countries, large and small (Drummond, Chapter 11). The single most common type of medical care to which this method is applied is the use of pharmaceutical products. Sometimes the decision involves new uses for existing products developed and produced in the country making the decision, and sometimes it involves products imported from abroad. Sometimes as well the decision involves the potential allocation of resources to a new product if brought to market, and often public funds play a role in such innovation. 

In real terms, the growth of the animal health market has been just over 1%/year since the mid-1990s. Whereas the market in the developed world is almost saturated, a rapid increase in demand is expected in developing countries. Of 1.5 billion farm animals, 1 million are located in tropical and subtropical countries. Also, more and more of the latter are raised by industrial methods and require regular medication. Likewise, an increasing number of affluent people in these countries can afford lifestyle medicines for their pets. On a global basis, an annual growth between 1.5% and 2.0% is expected in the 2006-2010 period. 

For any value-added pharmacy service to be viable, there must be a sufficiently large number of consumers in the market who may be willing to purchase the service. Investing too many resources into a service that benefits a small number of consumers ultimately will lead to the demise of any business venture. Several sources can be used to determine the size of a market for a professional service. The easiest place for a business planner to start is to review a pharmacy s patient profiles, purchasing and financial records, and other internal data. Knowing how many prescriptions are filled for different classes of medications will help the planner to determine which conditions are the most prevalent among the pharmacy s patients. The only downfall of this method is that the information is limited to the pharmacy s current clientele. Many pharmacies would like to provide value-added pharmacy services that attract new patients. 

Medical Many types of medical devices rely on adhesives for assembly. Medical device manufacturing requires that the final product exhibit maximum reliability and performance under many conditions that are not common in other industries. As a result, manufacturers of medical devices require significant testing and verification prior to choosing an adhesive. The standards and regulations in this industry are much different from those of other industries. The nature of the medical device market also dictates that the adhesive be economical and amenable to high-volume manufacturing methods. 

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