Far from pulling in its horns after the CoStar II setback to its stent portfolio, Cordis for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Cordis EMEA ; Brussels) agressively launched a new positioning campaign at EuroPCR, providing a glimpse of how quickly and powerfully a major multi-national can move to try to reclaim market share.

The sheer marketing force of the new campaign, called Cath Lab Cubed, was impossible to miss at the show, with its record-breaking booth footprint, diversity of activities and bright lighting.

Yet the razzle dazzle could mask the seriousness of this strategic shift that aims to move customer conversations toward company strengths and away from DES-centric marketing.

"For three years we have been focused on selling Cypher to cardiologists who made all the decisions," Stafan Terntrom, Cordis EMEA president, told Medical Device Daily. "Yet today there are many more stakeholders in product selection, such as procurement people at hospitals, and including especially the insurers and governments who are paying for these products."

Cath Lab Cubed refers to a three-pronged approach of partnership, process and portfolio that the Cordis commercial team will push to hold the customer base during what is expected to be a years-long wait for a big new DES product.

The program features an offer for educational services built around the Cordis Cardiac and Vascular Institute, launched as a separate entity last year and has accelerated to include a catalog of workshops, symposia and training programs for hospital teams during what are called "Cath Lab Days."

Terntrom said there are as many as 12 simulators available for use by hospital staff for training and education. A kind of campus has been established in Hamburg, Germany, for customers who can be convinced to move off-site for staff training and education. A faculty includes emminent physicians that Cordis has lined up for workshops.

"Healthcare professionals want to base their decisions on clinical evidence about the products available to them," he said. "We have one of the most studied devices in its sector with an unsurpassed body of clinical evidence and the longest-term clinical follow-up of any drug-eluting stent."

"We are not there yet," he said, "but we will be the market leader in professional education to be long-term successful in cardiovascular disease."

— John Brosky