Key To Success in Medical Devices Competitive Intelligence

Effective Competitive Intelligence Strategies for Gaining an Edge in the Medical Devices Industry

Medical devices are an important part of the healthcare industry, with tremendous potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. However, the market for medical devices is highly competitive, with many players vying for market share. In this context, competitive intelligence can help medical device companies differentiate themselves in the market and gain a competitive edge.

Like other sectors, competitive intelligence assists in understanding the market landscape, identifying new opportunities, and driving growth. Competitive intelligence at a basic level involves gathering and analyzing information about the competitive environment in which a business operates. In the case of medical devices, this generally involves monitoring competitors’ product development, marketing strategies, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property.

Medical devices and medtech competitive intelligence have their own idiosyncrasies despite often being clubbed with the pharmaceutical and diagnostics sector. The difference is most pronounced in the context of R&D and new product development. This is often more challenging than those in the pharmaceutical sector because the asset developmental window is small in the medical devices sector. For example, in the pharmaceutical sector, when an asset progresses through clinical trials, it provides multiple opportunities for collecting intelligence. Furthermore, the window of opportunity is sufficiently long; usually, several years as the asset progresses through the stage-gated phases. In the medical devices sector, this window is relatively smaller. However, smart companies seeking medical devices’ competitive intelligence offset this by frequently attending congresses and trade shows which provide an opportunity to collect primary intelligence rather efficiently in a short period of time. Regular patent tracking, a strategy most prevalent in the telecom sector, is also a good practice to gain competitive insights on early-stage assets and emerging medical devices-based assets. Field force and sales force intelligence often provide an opportunity to emulate or beat competitors at the marketing and sales level. Desk-based primary intelligence gathering requires a team of consultants who 1) have extensive experience in the medical devices sector 2) are well networked and 3) have astute respondents finding and intelligence eliciting capabilities.

BiopharmaVantage is a consulting firm that specializes in providing premium quality competitive intelligence services for medical devices and wider decision support services. If you would like to explore how we can assist you, then please contact us.