Kevin Seifert

"The power of glucose monitoring and the benefits of insulin pump therapy are now combined in a patient-friendly system that can simplify and improve diabetes management," said Kevin Seifert, president, BD Consumer Healthcare.

"We believe that the STM design, when coupled with the work BD has done internally, meets every criteria for a spring-based syringe that enhances safety without compromising patient care or quality, " said Kevin Seifert, director, Policy and Business Development, BD Advanced Protection Technologies."It is superior to any spring-based syringe presently on the market and we are working rapidly to finalize the commercial product and to build production."

Seifert explained that while BD is the supplier of the leading spring-based safety device, (the BD Insyte Autoguard(TM) shielded catheter), until now the company had not identified a design for a spring-based syringe that could meet the unique performance requirements for syringe use.

"It makes more sense to let federal OSHA take care of it," said Kevin Seifert, director of business development and policy."We support the legislative action in the form of the Stark bill because it' s a mechanism to make OSHA react."

Becton Dickinson introduced the first safety-engineered device -- a safety syringe -- 11 years ago, but "in the past 11 years, conversion to safety devices just didn't happen in most product areas," Seifert noted.

Supplier: Costs are overstated

He cited end-user resistance as the cause, due to both lack of training in how to use safer devices and concerns over cost.However, Seifert said company estimates show that for an average 300-bed hospital converting to safer products in the categories of syringes and needles, blood-collection devices and IV catheters, the increased cost would be about $71,000 per year.

While costs of different product categories vary widely, Seifert noted that conventional needles cost 6 cents to 8 cents each, while safer versions cost 22 cents to 25 cents each.He expects that as demand volume increases, as it would if all hospitals were required to purchase safer devices, prices for those devices would decrease.

"We believe that the STM design, when coupled with the work BD has done internally, meets every criteria for a spring-based syringe that enhances safety without compromising patient care or quality, " said Kevin Seifert, director, Policy and Business Development, BD Advanced Protection Technologies."It is superior to any spring-based syringe presently on the market and we are working rapidly to finalize the commercial product and to build production."

Seifert explained that while BD is the supplier of the leading spring-based safety device, (the BD Insyte Autoguardâ„¢ shielded catheter), until now the company had not identified a design for a spring-based syringe that could meet the unique performance requirements for syringe use.

It makes more sense to let federal OSHA take care of it , says Kevin Seifert , director of business development and policy.We support the legislative action in the form of the Stark bill because it's a mechanism to make OSHA react..

BD introduced the first safety-engineered device - a safety syringe - 11 years ago , but in the past 11 years , conversion to safety devices just didn't happen in most product areas , Seifert notes.

Supplier says costs are overstated.

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However , Seifert says company estimates show that for an average 300-bed hospital converting to safer products in the categories of syringes and needles , blood collection devices , and IV catheters , the increased cost would be about $ 71 , 000 per year.

For the budget size of a 300-bed institution , I wouldn't think that would be viewed as crippling or even substantial , he says.It's not the millions that many people sometimes automatically think it is..

While costs of different product categories vary widely , Seifert notes that conventional needles cost 6 cents to 8 cents each , while safer versions cost 22 cents to 25 cents each.He expects that as demand volume increases , as it would if all hospitals were required to purchase safer devices , prices for those devices would decrease.

In fiscal year 1998 , 29 % of the company's revenues from its needle-based medical device businesses came from safety-engineered products.
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A variety of conventional devices still would be in use after legislation or regulation , either due to patient safety considerations or because safer technology is not available or necessary , so Seifert cannot presently predict how that percentage might change after widespread device conversion.

We're in favor of good legislation that allows for good patient care , end-user selection of technology they want to use , and no prevention of advancement to future technologies , he states.If the law says the customer chooses what product they think is the most appropriate , and if it's effective and protects the worker , why wouldn't we want to support that.We're assuming this is coming and we're preparing for it..

``We believe that the STM design, when coupled with the work BD has done internally, meets every criteria for a spring-based syringe that enhances safety without compromising patient care or quality, '' said Kevin Seifert, director, Policy and Business Development, BD Advanced Protection Technologies. ``It is superior to any spring-based syringe presently on the market and we are working rapidly to finalize the commercial product and to build production.''

Seifert explained that while BD is the supplier of the leading spring-based safety device, (the BD Insyte Autoguard(TM) shielded catheter), until now the company had not identified a design for a spring-based syringe that could meet the unique performance requirements for syringe use.

"The power of glucose monitoring and the benefits of insulin pump therapy are now combined in a patient-friendly system that can simplify and improve diabetes management," said Kevin Seifert, president, BD Consumer Healthcare.

"This is clearly one of the most important product launches in the history of the company," said Kevin Seifert, vice president and general manager for BD, who runs the glucose monitoring business as head of the company's consumer health-care division.

Achieving such sales targets for the 106-year-old company will not come easy.The field is entrenched with health-care giants such as Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Abbott Laboratories, and Bayer.At the same time, technology in glucose monitoring changes rapidly and any advantages held by the BD systems may be short-lived.

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Of these, Seifert said that 4 million patients are injecting insulin.

BD envisions that patients with Type I or Type II diabetes would use its products, although it is focused more toward the Type I patients.Type I is the more serious but less common form of the disease, controlled with insulin injections or pumps, while Type II patients, who make up more than 90 percent of the diabetes population, generally control the disease through diet, exercise, and oral medications.

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Seifert said BD will virtually give the machines away at no or low costs through coupon programs or other promotional efforts, as is common throughout the industry.The key is getting patients to use their machines so the patients will buy the customized test strips, on which they put their blood samples.It's akin to buying razor blades to fit your razor.

Seifert said BD will price the strips competitively with other high-end devices, or about 70 cents to 80 cents per strip.Consumers purchase the strips at pharmacies.BD expects its products to be covered by most health-insurance plans - meaning covered patients would pay a co-payment for the strips - within six months, Seifert said.

BD hopes that the advantages to its system will draw enough patients.The company says it has the market's smallest lancet - used to pierce the skin - that requires less blood for a sample than all but one other product.That combination means less pain for patients pricking themselves regularly, the company says.

A second edge is that the BD systems reports the blood level results in five seconds, faster than most systems, including the product with the similarly small blood sample size, according to analyst research.

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"No one has all of these features," Seifert said.