European Cost Concerns May Impact Devices

Following the lucrative payouts for Ablation Frontiers Inc. (now Medtronic Ablation Frontiers LLC), CoreValve Inc. (now Medtronic CoreValve LLC), Ventor Technologies Ltd. last year (W#200910025) and the success of St. Francis Medical Technologies Inc. a few years earlier, many device venture capitalists shifted gears – again – reviving their strategy of a decade ago, of pushing medical device portfolio companies to launch first in Europe prior to any commercial attempts in the US. The goal was clear: amp up sales in markets where the regulating authorities were much faster in order to help companies defray the increasing costs of dealing with the one regulatory body that was increasingly slower, the US Food and Drug Administration. While no one underestimated the difficulties of building sales in the multiple European markets, the relative ease of regulatory approval and the rate of adoption of new technologies made the continent an enticing target.

But the ongoing economic calamity gripping Europe – and much of the world – is being felt by large cap...