Once again, I find myself wandering the many halls of the Medica and CompaMed trade events. Between checking out the latest and greatest from the medtech elite, discovering new firms displaying their first products at the show, or catching up with those I’ve met before, I took a moment to reach out to representatives at several companies exhibiting at the medical device gathering this year. Hopefully, these questions provide useful information for anyone unable to meet with them at the event or those who are not headed to Germany this year. With that in mind, Kevin Cooney, director of product marketing at DSM Biomedical, shared the following insights to help you determine if the firm is a potential services partner for you in 2020 or beyond.
 
Sean Fenske: What technology or service are you emphasizing at Medica/CompaMed this year?
Kevin Cooney: DSM is emphasizing our full suite of technologies and services. The DSM booth is focused on how our technologies are being applied to solve unmet needs in various clinical markets, including cardiology, soft tissue repair, wound care, diabetes, cellular therapies, and orthopedics. We will be highlighting various products and materials featuring polyurethanes, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, and natural materials.
 
Fenske: What’s the most common challenge customers inquire about and how do you address it?
Cooney: With DSM addressing multiple clinical markets, our customers bring to us the key unmet needs in their primary markets. We engage with our customers to gain a strong understanding of the unmet need of that market, and then balance that with our own in-depth market analysis to identify potential technology solutions. The process then begins to fine tune the right solution for our customer and their patients.
 
Fenske: If you could give one piece of advice to companies seeking a manufacturing partner before they make a decision, what would it be?
Cooney: First piece of advice is, if you haven’t talked with DSM, make sure you give us the opportunity to support you. When seeking a manufacturing partner, there are key aspects of a strong partner beyond the act of manufacturing. Technology knowledge, customer service, and ease of doing business are all intangibles that may not carry a lot of weight in selecting a partner. At DSM, we view these intangibles as areas that truly differentiate us.
 
Fenske: What are the forces driving medical device manufacturers to seek your technology/services over doing it in-house?
Cooney: One factor we see driving medical device companies seeking DSM’s assistance is the race to continually innovate and commercialize products. We view ourselves as the expansion of a medical device company’s R&D and marketing teams, able to increase their development bandwidth and reduce their time-to-market, while offering commercial launch expertise—all to keep our customers one step ahead in their markets.
 
Fenske: In what ways is your company able to aid in getting a product (project) to market faster?
Cooney: The in-house expertise within DSM enables our teams to partner with medical device firms across various functions, whether it is operations, quality, regulatory, marketing, or R&D. This expertise in-house allows DSM to optimize part or all of the development and commercialization process for our partners. Our extensive list of international regulatory filings and Master Files, coupled with the clinical history of our technology, is another advantage we have when working with partners to accelerate their project timelines.
 
DSM is located at Medica/Compamed in Hall 8A, Booth/Stand M27.