Women's Health: Building Interventional Gynecology

Article preview from Medtech Insight- August, 2010

This article was adapted from "Building Interventional Gynecology," which appeared in START-UP, June 2010.

Women's Health: Building Interventional Gynecology

Article preview from Medtech Insight- August, 2010

With revenue growth in major medical device product categories like cardiology and orthopedics now constrained by incremental innovations and diminishing returns, there's been a renaissance in women's health, a market where participants expect to see strong gains ahead. Although women's health was once a sluggish sector for clinical innovations, companies and investors are now eager to build businesses around minimally invasive, in-office procedures and products in several underserved areas, including endometrial ablation, uterine fibroid treatments, female sterilization, and urinary incontinence. First-generation companies in this field have largely accomplished the difficult task of creating pathways to early OB/GYN adopters, and the women's health clinical specialty now appears to be evolving in ways that will further encourage the shift to new, less-invasive, office-based treatment options.

A Pattern of Growth

Ernst & Young's "Pulse of the Industry: Medical Technology Report 2009" showcased women's health as one of the top five fastest growing therapeutic device categories, something that competitors in this industry have known for some time now. Between 2007 and 2008, revenues from women's health devices jumped 114%, while traditional categories like orthopedics and ophthalmology increased by only 12% and 11%, respectively. This good showing came from a medical device segment once known as a backwater of investing and an innovation laggard.

As a result, there is suddenly a great deal of fervor within investment circles about minimally invasive devices for women's health. Companies in product areas such as endometrial ablation, therapeutic devices for uterine fibroids, less-invasive treatments for stress urinary incontinence, and office-based permanent contraception are having little trouble attracting venture capital these days. But venture capitalists are turning their attention to the women's health market for a number of reasons—not only because growth prospects in more established areas have dimmed.

Continued...

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