The Process of Elimination

Incontinence is a particularly unglamorous sector of the medical device industry. Companies with innovative surgical approaches for shoring up a slack urethra or with cleverly designed gizmos that prevent the unintentional leakage of urine find themselves competing with such mundane treatment options as diapers and Kegel exercises. Incontinence is not a life and death issue. But to paraphrase a remark attributed to Bill George, CEO of Medtronic Inc. , incontinence is a matter of life or no life. Millions of people remain housebound out of fear that they cannot control their bladders. The condition represents a significant unmet medical need for 20 million Americans that suffer from urge incontinence, and 13 million suffers of stress incontinence in the US, the majority of them women. The numbers are on the rise, because these conditions become more common with aging.

The incontinence market represents a frontier in which small companies should be able to stake claims. It is not dominated...