Lungs Expand Device Markets
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
It's more than a coincidence that cardiology company Boston Scientific has invested in Broncus Technologies and its rival Guidant, in Spiration Inc., two start-ups with minimally-invasive devices for the treatment of lung diseases. Interventional pulmonology could just be the next double-digit growth area to succeed interventional cardiology, which is maturing; what's more, it takes advantage of the core competencies of the big firms.
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Ever since the transformative success of interventional cardiology, the emergence of new interventional subspecialties seems to come at ever quicker paces. One of the latest clinical spaces to embrace the interventional revolution is pulmonology, which over the past couple of years has seen a host of new procedures and devices transforming traditional procedures. Indeed, the pace at which interventional cardiology evolved now seems almost leisurely compared with that at which interventional pulmonology companies are now moving. Thus, many of the companies in the space face an interesting dilemma: how to establish a foundation in this new specialty and, at the same time, how to refine that technology to keep pace with the field as it grows. That's the challenge facing superDimension, whose executives believe they own not just the road map, but the road itself.
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