The Future of Devices is Generic (Laura Ruth, Ph.D. is a director with Fuld & Co.'s Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Practice)
What if a significant portion of a $200 million segment of the medical device market was generic? A company called Generic Medical Device (GMD) launched a Universal Sling System for female stress urinary incontinence (SUI), a class II medical device, in 2009. Market research indicates that 33% of physicians are sensitive to price.1 Therefore those physicians might consider using a generic device rather than a brand.
Class II medical devices are probably the most adoptable to a generic line. Generic producers would likely target class II devices that that are not currently sold as commodities, but the market would find it hard to differentiate one branded product from another. Like the incontinence sling above, the initial generation of generic devices to enter the market will likely be mechanically simple. Generics are unlikely to be successful in more complicated products, says Lisa Sasso, Medical Development Group Board of Directors and President of Medical Development Partners. Shawn Lunney, GMD vice president of sales and marketing says that generic me...
