PRx Blog

Time Your Medical Device Product Launch to Maximize PR Impact

Schwartz EVP and Healthcare Practice Leader Lloyd Benson takes on the question of how best to time a medical device product launch for greatest public relations impact in a new white paper. We invite you to download "Medical Device Product Launches: Issues & Answers About Timing."

Lloyd's perspective on the question of "when to launch" is informed by Schwartz's work over the years with what we believe to be the PR industry's largest portfolio of medical device clients. A small sampling of our work, which has reached patients, physicians, payors, advocacy groups, hospital management and others, includes introductions of:

- Philips Medical Systems HeartStart home defibrillator
- Cyberonics VNS Therapy for pharmacoresistant epilepsy and VNS Therapy for treatment-resistant depression
- NxStage System One portable home hemodialysis machine
- CYTYC (now Hologic) ThinPrep Pap test
- Hologic Cervista HPV test

He notes that product launches are like "one-pitch softball--you only get the one pitch to swing at. It's not going to happen again in the product's lifetime. So it behooves the healthcare PR pro to closely examine all possible alternatives in terms of timing and effectiveness." Lloyd believes that the received wisdom among many medical device executives causes them to allow that singular PR opportunity to pass them by, effectively turning what could be a chance to reach tens of millions of people into just another press release that crosses the wires unnoticed.

Take a look at the white paper, or drop the Schwartz Healthcare Practice a note if you'd like to talk more about product introductions, seeding the market before regulatory approval, raising awareness of a product already on the market or revitalizing an established brand. We look forward to talking about your company's communications needs.

Posted by Laura Kempke on August 24, 2010 at 2:09 PM