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In the Eye of the Storm

Over the past several years, increased public scrutiny, from both Federal agencies and the general media, have focused on the close collaborations between product companies and the physicians who help them develop and test new products, alleging that some relationships are too close leading to physicians who put personal financial gain ahead of patient care. Though it was recently cleared by the Department of Justice in a high profile whistle blower case, few companies have found themselves as closely watched as spine leader Medtronic Sofamor Danek.

For most companies, the value of keeping close to customers is axiomatic. But for medical device firms, and those in orthopedics and spine in particular, the importance of close customer relationships rises to a whole other level. Because of the central role surgeons play not just as purchasers of products but as designers and developers of new technology as well, and often as educators and trainers, too, close contacts with key opinion leaders and designing surgeons begin well before any products are actually purchased.

But recently a host of skeptics and critics, some from within the government and some from without, has begun to question whether those close relationships between device companies and their...

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