More Profit, More Opportunity
NexTek was founded in response to our longtime frustration with the current state of medical device innovation. We realized that one of the primary reasons our industry is in the dark ages when it comes to new technology is the disconnect between clinician innovators and OEMs.
Clinicians want to help patients but they also want to profit from their innovative ideas. Unfortunately the current landscape is filled with pitfalls for those looking to get their new tech out into the market:
- The amount of FDA regulations
- Sunshine Act limitations
- Hospital requirements
- Provider exclusions
And more. It can feel like the system is specifically designed to keep innovation from happening.
The Cycle of Innovation Loss
Stop us if you’ve heard this before: You’ve hit a dead end with your tech and decide to take it to a sales rep who then passes it on to a “development team” who then hands it to a marketing associate who then works with an engineering team to hold a meeting to “discuss the merit of the idea.”
At the end of the meeting, you hear:
"We think this is a great idea, we would love to do something with you. We will be in touch."
Then, one of four things happens…
The marketing director calls you up and tells you the project will be green-lighted, and they want to bring you on as a consultant for an hourly fee with an additional royalty of 1-2% if there are any patents filed. You are then placed into the “development cycle,” where you wait in line, constantly being told that the company is working on it for several years (all the while using the product of the company as a sign of goodwill).
The marketing rep calls and tells you that they are not interested in the idea. Exactly one year later, you notice that the company you spoke with just launched a new product line with all of your innovation inside. What are you going to do? You didn’t have an NDA in place, and no one will remember your conversation except the marketing rep who has since moved on to another company.
The marketing director calls you and tells you they are interested in your idea, they offer you a small amount of money for the intellectual property, and then put your idea into the hands of a young marketing associate. That associate then makes all of the final decisions related to when, where, how, and why a product is developed. You get a small win, and the company makes a lot of money, but the device is never exactly what you envisioned, and it does not help as many people as you had hoped.
While success for both the innovator and the manufacturer is the desired outcome, it’s rarely the common experience. A surgeon innovator would need to find a company whose marketing launch plan lines up with their medtech idea. The company would then have to provide a competent development team and an internal back that can push the idea through the often arduous internal development process, and, if all goes perfectly in this process, the innovator (you) gets to profit and retain control over their product.
Making Success the Norm
Our goal at NexTek is to improve patient care and bring more innovative technology to the medical field. We accomplish this goal by helping clinician innovators bring their ideas to market and financially profit so they are willing to continue to innovate and take the necessary risk to move the field forward.
We work with innovators like you so that you can bring your ideas to life more easily and profitably while still retaining control over your product.
Spark of Inspiration
Funding
We take the time right at the beginning to discuss the best financial plan for the inventor
Development
With an array of capabilities, we can help you craft your idea into a well designed product that is tested and ready to produce.
Go-To-Market Support
We don’t leave the customer to face the commercialization question alone. We continue to support the project through market launch.
Regulatory Clearance
The red-tape doesn't have to be intimidating. We can help with quality system development, documentation, submissions and FDA processes.
Creating a Company
If needed, we can help you start your own company.
Innovation as a Reality and Risk
On the other side of the coin, we see larger corporations that struggle with innovation. Internal managers and development teams are constantly facing pressures from upper managers, the Board of Directors, and, ultimately, the shareholders to increase profits and grow the business.
“Innovation” is a great word to throw around a corporate retreat but, for managers in the trenches, it can represent a terrifying prospect: a $10M gamble on the new idea only that may never come to fruition, causing financial loss to the company and reputation loss for the person who put the idea forth. Big companies are all about mitigating and minimizing risk.
Disruptive innovation rarely occurs without the chance of huge failure.
As a result, companies dream of being innovative, because few of them actually have the corporate culture in place to take the huge risks required to find disruptive innovation ideas, especially when it doesn’t coincide with their current product development map. To avoid failure, companies have complex procedures and checklists around onboarding innovation. If a new idea doesn’t fulfill one of the requirements in a long list then it is passed over. While it keeps companies from failing as often as they otherwise would, this list is also the exact reason why their “innovation” is issued regarding evolutionary changes to current products.
Large companies want innovators to come to them with packaged technology that passes all of the requirements on their checklist so they are able to buy the tech without any real concerns. That is what NexTek can do!
Let's Talk!
Clinicians understand why the NexTek way is better
" You are spot on with your assessment of big industry. I have seen it many times in my career. In fact, I just left a design contract with a major medical device manufacturer because of these exact issues. I'm ready to work with someone who gets it. "