Conceptus is redoubling efforts to sell non-incisional birth control to physician offices after failing to acquire Ovion.

On July 7, Conceptus announced non-exclusive co-promotion pacts with Karl Storz Endoscopy America and Richard Wolf Medical Instruments, which together account for 64% of the U.S. hysteroscope market.

Storz and Wolf's combined 170 sales reps will feature Essure in demonstrations of their scopes. Meanwhile, Conceptus' 28 reps will use the firms' scopes when making sales pitches. The Essure manufacturer and the two scope makers also will share doctor-office sales leads and co sponsor promotional meetings.

Conceptus sees a significant growth opportunity for Essure in the ob/gyn office setting, which, compared to hospitals, offers a lower-cost, more convenient environment for the procedure. In January, the American Medical Association established a CPT code covering in-office transcervical sterilization.

Essure, the only U.S.-approved, non-incisional, permanent birth control implant, is used in offices by only 100 of the 900 physicians currently certified to perform the procedure, San Carlos, Calif.-based Conceptus notes.

On the same day Conceptus announced the co-promotion pacts, it said Ovion had rejected its attempt to counter a $30 mil.-plus acquisition offer from American Medical Systems ¹ Also see "AMS May Enter Permanent Birth-Control Market Via Merger Or License" - Medtech Insight, 13 June, 2005., p. 22). AMS, which subsequently completed the Ovion purchase, now hopes to compete in the same market as Conceptus.

Under a 2003 court settlement, Conceptus gained right of first refusal to any purchase of Ovion. AMS/Ovion now aims to win U.S. market entry for a transcervical sterilization device in 2008, geared toward ob/gyn office practitioners.

Conceptus will continue with patent interference litigation against AMS/Ovion for certain transcervical sterilization-related intellectual property. If Conceptus proves victorious, it may shed a current obligation to pay Ovion a 3.25% royalty on Essure sales. Such a development also would create an opportunity for Conceptus to sue AMS for infringement of birth-control technology patents.

Promotion Pact Broadens Conceptus’ Market For Birth-Control Device

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