IP is key for medical tech companies

A study looking at the $300 billion medical technology market has highlighted the need for Australian companies to be more mindful of protecting and promoting their IP if they want to share in the spoils.

Published today, the report ‘Mind The Gap: Medical Technology Innovation In Australia’ was prepared by patent and trade mark attorneys Griffith Hack for the Griffith Hack Medical Technologies Group, a provider of IP services to Australian medical companies.

It reveals that American companies accounted for the lion’s share of medical technology patent applications made in Australia between 2003 and 2009. U.S giant Johnson and Johnson alone accounted for 10 percent of all applications, more than the total proportion of Australian applications which was around seven percent.

The report notes that the medical technology industry is growing at around 10 percent a year – more than the pharmaceuticals industry – and that Australian companies should be doing more to get their due. For instance it says that while Australia leads the world in several key emerging areas such as burns treatment, low levels of research funding suggest that we are underrating our own achievements. It stressed that more confidence should be derived from the success of companies such asCochlear and Resmed.

“Australian medical technology companies have been punching above their weight for some time now in comparison to many other high technology sectors in Australia, but local and international market pressures become greater every year,” said Griffith Hack senior associate Joe Seisdedos.