Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX January/February 2004

BUSINESS NEWS

In a Stryker advertisement, company spokesman Jack Nicklaus enjoys the outdoors with his grandson. (click to enlarge)

In a twist from traditional marketing methods, makers of orthopedic implants are now talking directly to consumers.

Two advertising campaigns released last fall marked the first time that major orthopedics companies have notably shifted their communications target from physicians to patients.

Stryker Corp. (Kalamazoo, MI) released a TV and print ad campaign for its hip-replacement implant that features golf legend Jack Nicklaus.

Nicklaus, 63, received Stryker's ceramic-on-ceramic replacement hip as part of a clinical trial in 1999. The implant received FDA approval in February 2003.

"I'm amazed at the percentage of people whose experience with joint pain was similar to mine," Nicklaus says in a company release,"and I empathize with what they are going through. Joint pain affected my everyday activities from playing with my grandchildren and helping my wife to working with my sons and enjoying the outdoors."

Stryker's ceramic and titanium device costs up to $5000, making it more expensive than implants made from traditional materials of plastic and metal. Stryker promotes its implant as longer lasting than traditional replacement hips, and emphasizes its advantages for younger patients.

Competing for the hip-replacement market, Zimmer Holdings(Warsaw, IN) launched a print ad campaign in Time and Newsweek that features an older woman on a swing. The ad promotes the advantages of having minimally invasive hip-replacement surgery as developed by Zimmer, including a shorter hospital stay. The surgery requires use of Zimmer's devices and instruments.

Both companies include in their ads a Web site and phone number that directs viewers to local surgeons trained to implant their devices.

The worldwide hip-replacement market is estimated to be worth $2.6 billion.

Traditionally, the drug industry has pursued consumer marketing while the medical device industry has focused its efforts on doctors. Now, observing drug makers' successes and banking on a new level of patient education and involvement, medical device companies are changing course.

However, the advertising rules for the two industries differ: FDA demands more stringent reporting from pharmaceutical companies, includ- ing the disclosure of negative side effects in all ads. For the medical device industry, only ads for risky devices such as pacemakers or artificial hearts must disclose negative side effects. Advertising for other medical devices is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission, which only requires that companies not make false or deceptive claims.

The trend toward marketing devices directly to consumers is partly the result of the growing number of patients who demand a larger role in their medical care. Favorable patient demographics include an overall aging world population and an ad-savvy baby boomer generation in the United States. The baby boomers in particular represent consumers who are likely to lead more-active lifestyles later in life—and research their medical choices when it comes to osteoarthritis treatments.

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