The Middle East Could Be Vital to US Medical Device Success

Many Arab countries are overlooked by US device manufacturers, according to a new report by Pan Globus (London, United Kingdom), a global business services company focused on the medical device industry.

Small medical device companies are starved of management time and resources, and thus fundamental activities are sometimes overlooked. However, it is vital to augment the management team with clinical and business specialists, since a faulty clinical trial--which represent a considerable time and cash investment--can spell disaster. Attracting and retaining key opinion leaders is vital to managing the regulatory process effectively, since conducting the trial efficiently is a specialist process. Most new medical devices, however, fail to realize their full potential due to poor planning and time-starved management, who feel that raising capital is the primary hurdle to overcome.

Pan Global reiterates, however, that an efficient, successful, clinical trial and strong early sales are the real keys to success. In this context, matching the profile of a medical device to a country's healthcare, cultural, and reimbursement profile is imperative to early sales success-- thus gaining a European CE Marking opens up the European Union along with many Asian, African, Australasian, and Middle Eastern markets. Despite this, many American medical device businesses overlook the Middle East due to its popular media image, not realizing that many of these countries have hospitals that are equipped to a superior standard than their European counterparts.

"Iran is a strong prospective market for many medical devices. It has large population and a very sophisticated healthcare infrastructure but is often ignored by western businesses," said Robert MacPherson, managing director of Pan Globus. "Venture capitalists must look beyond intellectual property rights and look at healthcare economics on a global scale."

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