"Build a better mousetrap," so the saying goes, "and the world will beat a path to your door."

In the IVD industry, better mousetraps come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Clinical researchers are constantly discovering markers to detect and diagnose diseases and medical conditions that were previously unfathomable, and product developers in a variety of settings are working hard to improve the sensitivity and specificity of those markers in commercial formats. Meanwhile, industry researchers are exploring myriad options to make such markers available in devices that are increasingly easy to use, more automated, and more cost-effective.

In short—as regular readers of IVD Technology know very well—the IVD industry is rife with technological innovation.

For many IVD companies, however, it is the marketing of such technologies that presents the most difficult stumbling block. Especially for a small, entrepreneurial company, that single obstacle can often present such challenges as to threaten its very survival.

Fortunately, IVD companies have also become extraordinarily adept at creating business strategies to deal with such marketing obstacles. Many companies choose to license or sell their intellectual properties rather than attempt to take them to market themselves. Others devise ingenious combinations of strategic partnerships, comarketing arrangements, or distribution agreements that enable them to retain an interest in their products while making use of the capabilities of their partners. Still others find ways to launch their technologies for nonregulated applications first, returning to the field of clinical testing only after revenues have begun to appear. But whatever strategy a company chooses to adopt, the selection process must begin with information about trends in the global IVD marketplace, which is the focus of several articles in this issue.

It may be that none of these strategies will help your company to develop an improved murine ensnarement device—but they might help you find a market for it.

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