ABSTRACT

Marketing intellectual property (IP) may seem a slightly novel concept in that IP is not yet a product. Marketing is preparation of the selling process and puts in place the materials, theme and description of the product and from that creates a communication plan which will deliver the desired product to the right customer. There is also a significant need to understand if there are guidelines for treatment published by professional associations or laid down by healthcare managers. A commercial opportunity may exist beyond the bounds of the currently marketed and IP-protected product. The costs of developing such an asset would need to be judged against the size of the available market. A pharmaceutical product this may well be too high but certainly for devices and diagnostics markets the investment may be justified. Conferences continue to be the most fruitful way of finding partners for a direct transaction though many of the main commercial pharmaceutical partnering conferences are quite expensive.