Eucomed: Finding Its Seat At The Table: An Interview With Guy Lebeau

Article preview from IN VIVO - December, 2012 

Eucomed, the organization that advocates for the device industry across Europe, is expanding its role to make the device community’s voice heard within the larger discussion about Europe’s changing health care scene. IN VIVO interviews Eucomed chairman Guy Lebeau.

 

Eucomed: Finding Its Seat At The Table: An Interview With Guy Lebeau

Article preview from IN VIVO - December, 2012 

Long the leading voice advocating on behalf of medical device firms across Europe, Eucomed is expanding its role to make the device community’s voice heard within the larger discussion about Europe’s changing health care scene. IN VIVO speaks with Eucomed chairman Guy Lebeau, MD, about the organization’s role in the current European health care debate and about the challenges facing the European medical device industry generally.

 

One of the things that has historically made Europe attractive, particularly to US companies, is its ability to act as a single entity, creating a market of enormous size. Thus, in the most notable example, the ability to get pan-European regulatory approval through the CE mark often makes Europe a great place from which to launch new technology, an advantage that has only grown greater as companies, both US and European, have struggled with a more demanding US regulatory climate.

Yet at the same time that they look to it as a single entity, seasoned executives are quick to point out that Europe isn’t one market, but a collection of many, and that getting a single, unified regulatory approval is only the beginning. Companies must then deal with local issues, such as reimbursement and different clinical practices, which will have a material impact on their ability to successfully launch their products. That dual identity, part pan-European, part local, and the ability to navigate it is one of the things that makes Eucomed, the organization that represents medical device companies across the continent, so valuable. For like Europe itself, Eucomed operates on two levels: one that from its headquarters in Brussels looks at Europe as a whole and helps to shape policy and advocates on behalf of its device industry constituents; another that works with national groups and associations to deal with issues on a more local level.

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