Live Fitter, Look Better
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Aging Baby Boomers with the desire and financial means to do so are taking health care to the next level, seeking fixes for bodily conditions that aren't life-threatening but which do affect comfort and self esteem. Lately device makers have begun heading for the sorts of lifestyle markets pioneered by drugmakers. Given the choice, some investors believe consumers will prefer device solutions over daily pill-popping that reminds them they've got health problems. Some firms are adopting established technologies to new purposes, while others are identifying perceived market needs first, then seeking out technology that can do the job. Opportunities range from aesthetic procedures to treatments for obesity and depression. Lifestyle start-ups face strategic issues that are anything but traditional: How and when to reach out to potential patients and prepare physicians to answer their questions? How to justify reimbursement or convince consumers to pay out of pocket? New challenges are sparking new marketing tactics, such as showing physicians in the distribution channel how to distinguish themselves with new devices.
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LipoSonix: Addition by Subtraction
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Obesity: Super-Sized Medical Device Market
Obesity is a multi-hundred billion dollar market ready and waiting for device developers to catch up to fill an enormous unmet need. Between the low risk, low benefit drug options for overweight patients, and the high risk, high benefit surgeries for the morbidly obese, there's a huge gap in terms of therapies. This sweet spot covers a segement of over 50 million obese patients without weight loss options. Companies with new devices for obesity hope to serve that population; the market is existing and underserved, reimbursement risk is eliminated--since many patients will pay out of pocket to have weight loss procedures--so the remaining risk revolves around technology. However, technology risk in a multi-factorial disease whose mechanisms are poorly understood is significant.