EES and Acclarent

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Anonymous

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So what is EES going to do with balloon sinuplasty? They sure paid a lot for it. New coding coming soon for balloon cases and it doesn't look good. What is the plan here?
 


Docs who aren't using the balloons will be left behind. If you know anything about ENT you should know that coding issues or not, this technology represents a huge advancement in the treatment of sinus problems,
 


Ceo is EX US. Surgical GUY from late 80's early 90's when they owned the business before Walmart oops JNJ bought all the endo business. So sometimes when you loose you really win and sometimes when you win you really loose . The CEO will get PAID , and then the reps will get the 1% 2% bonus on this old technology , being used in different part of body
 


Well, it looked like a great run their reps got paid a shitload more than any jnj device rep ever would. the technology, while maybe old for other specialties, was a huge advancement for ENT.
 




Anonymous said:
Docs who aren't using the balloons will be left behind. If you know anything about ENT you should know that coding issues or not, this technology represents a huge advancement in the treatment of sinus problems,
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"Huge advancement" is very, very debatable. If you don't have codes to pay the surgeons as much as they get for doing normal sinus surgery, you won't have many cases being done....period. Right now, they use the same codes, so it isn't an issue. But, once codes come out for BS, they will be less than traditional sinus surgery, let's see how many docs do it then.
 


EES didn't buy this company. It was Ethicon, Inc(Suture) that made the purchase. I'm not sure why the suture division purchased it so who knows what they are going to do with it?
 


Anonymous said:
"Huge advancement" is very, very debatable. If you don't have codes to pay the surgeons as much as they get for doing normal sinus surgery, you won't have many cases being done....period. Right now, they use the same codes, so it isn't an issue. But, once codes come out for BS, they will be less than traditional sinus surgery, let's see how many docs do it then.
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Coding is a potential issue, but has nothing to do with the impact the technology has made for sinus surgery. If you were a candidate for sinus surgery, you would be smart to ask for the balloon approach.
 


Anonymous said:
Coding is a potential issue, but has nothing to do with the impact the technology has made for sinus surgery. If you were a candidate for sinus surgery, you would be smart to ask for the balloon approach.
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The skill of the surgeon is more important than the method that he uses to open your sinuses. One of the problems with sinuplasty is you have ENT surgeons who shouldn't be doing certain cases trying to balloon these patients and causing bigger problems. The balloon may be good for specific types of disease (isolated frontal or sphenoid), but to say that it should be used first line for all patients who need sinus surgery is crazy.
 


Anonymous said:
The skill of the surgeon is more important than the method that he uses to open your sinuses. One of the problems with sinuplasty is you have ENT surgeons who shouldn't be doing certain cases trying to balloon these patients and causing bigger problems. The balloon may be good for specific types of disease (isolated frontal or sphenoid), but to say that it should be used first line for all patients who need sinus surgery is crazy.
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Who is saying that it should be used first line in all cases- besides you? In any medical specialty, when is a single treatment modality used in all cases? Never. The balloon seems to be being considered by ENTs when the goal of surgery is to reopen the natural drainage pathways, while doing as little damage as possible to the normal mucociliary clearance of the sinuses.
 


Anonymous said:
Who is saying that it should be used first line in all cases- besides you? In any medical specialty, when is a single treatment modality used in all cases? Never. The balloon seems to be being considered by ENTs when the goal of surgery is to reopen the natural drainage pathways, while doing as little damage as possible to the normal mucociliary clearance of the sinuses.
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Who says it should be used on every sinus case? Answer: Every Acclarent rep.
 


at the end of the day this is a cost issue> there is a large portion of ent docs doing these procedures in their own surgery centers. They are not going to pay an additional 1200 of their bottom line
 




Entellus looks like a similar ballon sinuplasty. Given the number of existing and pending patents from Acclarent, I'd expect the JnJ lawyers to be all over Entellus.

But isn't the key differentiator Acclarent's luma probe for identifying the proper sinus passage? Enteluus doesn't have that so doc still fumbling and guessing.
 


A friend of mine had the Entellus procedure done in Texas under local anesthesia. Said it changed her life and she has never felt better. They used a micro camera to view the sinuses and guide the balloon.
 


Anonymous said:
Entellus looks like a similar ballon sinuplasty. Given the number of existing and pending patents from Acclarent, I'd expect the JnJ lawyers to be all over Entellus.

But isn't the key differentiator Acclarent's luma probe for identifying the proper sinus passage? Enteluus doesn't have that so doc still fumbling and guessing.
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I don't know, but I've been told they can't deal with the frontals, anyway. Instead, I guess they go under the lip and aim for the max's only. On their website they claim a local can be used, so I'm betting their plans are to shoot for in-office uses instead of OR. So, Acclarent will still be the big dog, but offers of doing in-office procedures (reimbursement???), could possibly get them in front of some current balloon users.
 


Anonymous said:
I don't know, but I've been told they can't deal with the frontals, anyway. Instead, I guess they go under the lip and aim for the max's only. On their website they claim a local can be used, so I'm betting their plans are to shoot for in-office uses instead of OR. So, Acclarent will still be the big dog, but offers of doing in-office procedures (reimbursement???), could possibly get them in front of some current balloon users.
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The entellus system was designed to be in-office - indicated for maxillary dilation only. while it is defintely a step backward - not going through the natural ostia - I'm confident docs would try it if there was in-office reimbursement - which there is not. I would think it is hard to sell this in the hospital since the vast majority already have the acclarent system - indicated for max, frontal, sphenoids, and now with the sinus implants as well. Anybody else have any info on this?
 


Anonymous said:
The entellus system was designed to be in-office - indicated for maxillary dilation only. while it is defintely a step backward - not going through the natural ostia - I'm confident docs would try it if there was in-office reimbursement - which there is not. I would think it is hard to sell this in the hospital since the vast majority already have the acclarent system - indicated for max, frontal, sphenoids, and now with the sinus implants as well. Anybody else have any info on this?
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Any info would be a great help. Entellus is recruiting hard all over the place, and I'm wondering if interviewing could be worth leaving my current device gig. Considering it's a start-up, I know there's a lot of risk, but, considering Acclarent has no competition, I'm thinking it might actually gather some steam.
 


Are there any Entellus reps out there who could shed some light? Likes like Entellus has some advanced technology, but sounds rather unproven. Hasn't the product been out for 2 years? how come it has not made more of a dent?
 


Anonymous said:
Are there any Entellus reps out there who could shed some light? Likes like Entellus has some advanced technology, but sounds rather unproven. Hasn't the product been out for 2 years? how come it has not made more of a dent?
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I think the problem is that they don't have a sales force right now. At least not one that's really doing much right now. Just a guess, but I'd be willing to put the whole lot of reps at under 10. Just like most start ups, they sell the concept, and then start to build their sales force to start selling the product.
Could be why they're going on a hiring blitz. From what I can find, I think it's gonna be a decent competitor for Acclarent. I doubt it will be an easy road at first, but as far as I know, they're the only company to come to the table with a product that can actually compete in the balloon world. Haven't seen the FINess in action, so I don't really have any feedback on the actual product. But, some of my ENT docs have asked about it, and it is certainly generating some type of interest.
 



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