Mayos MRI coil:
Self-branding in action.
As reported on
Medical Device Link by
Tim Gee of Medical Connectivity Consulting
When the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) undertook a project to produce a magnetic resonance imaging coil under its own brand, the move represented the first time a research-oriented healthcare delivery organization had created a medical device and brought it to market under its own name. Now, with more than 100 MRI coil sales under its belt, Mayo is looking to expand its offerings in medical devices.
At first glance, the clinic's move would seem to represent the emergence of another competitive force in the already crowded medical device field. But what first appeared to be a threat to established medical device vendors may in fact be a boon, providing a new business model that could challenge medical device firms' longstanding allegiance to vertical integration.
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The Mayo Model
Delivering healthcare while maintaining a commitment to research is a daunting task. University teaching hospitals are constantly looking for ways to generate revenue to fund new research. Most large university hospitals have technology commercialization offices that seek to monetize the fruits of their research. According to Steve VanNurden, vice chair of technology commercialization for Mayo Medical Ventures, his office gets a new commercialization candidate from Mayo's researchers every day. The traditional approach of the office has been to license the intellectual property (IP) to a vendor, which then commercializes it and plows royalties back into the institution. Although the vendor assumes all the business risk, the institution loses control and most licensing deals end up returning little revenue.
Mayo's MRI coil: Self-branding in action.
In 2003, Mayo researchers developed an innovative way to generate MRI images of the hand and forearm. Rather than licensing the technology to a modality vendor, the researchers developed a prototype and contracted with IBM's Engineering and Technology Services group (Rochester, MN). In collaboration with Mayo engineers, IBM developed the MRI coil and produced the first manufacturing prototype within eight months. Named the Mayo Clinic BC-10 MRI coil, the final manufactured version was completed four months later and is currently being sold through MRI manufacturers Philips, Siemens, and GE Healthcare. The device is branded with the Mayo name and sold through catalogs and as an accessory in a new MRI sale or upgrade.
