What are my chances of getting med. invention marketed?

[ertraumashield]

Hi everyone! I'm currently a sophmore in high school. Being only a sophmore a lot of doctors will look down upon me just becuse of my age. I know a lot about medicine and this isn't my first med. invention. My other med. invention was already invented. (I searched it up on the internet before I handed in the plans, but after having a ortho. review it, I was given the news that it was already invented.) Now I have another one. Most doctors are impressed by it. My cousins husband is a cardiovascular surgeon, my neighbor works for the boss of a medical center, and my teacher has already reviwed the plans.

I was wondering what are the chances of this actually getting invented? And, if it was invented, what would I get out of it?

Any help would be appericated. Thanks so much!

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[Terpskins99]

Hi everyone! I'm currently a sophmore in high school. Being only a sophmore a lot of doctors will look down upon me just becuse of my age. I know a lot about medicine and this isn't my first med. invention. My other med. invention was already invented. (I searched it up on the internet before I handed in the plans, but after having a ortho. review it, I was given the news that it was already invented.) Now I have another one. Most doctors are impressed by it. My cousins husband is a cardiovascular surgeon, my neighbor works for the boss of a medical center, and my teacher has already reviwed the plans.

I was wondering what are the chances of this actually getting invented? And, if it was invented, what would I get out of it?

Any help would be appericated. Thanks so much!

Well, if you invented it then you invented it. End of story.

Now, the likelihood of it getting marketed and sold? Extremely unlikely. Most hospitals will only purchase an item from a company they already have a relationship with. And most medical inventions were created by doctors that are experts in the field with which the item would be used. An invention by a high school student is not likely to be taken seriously.

But you never know. First see if its actually an original invention (what is your invention anyhow?). Then get it patented.

Michael Debakey (famous cardiothoracic surgeon that died earlier this year) invented the roller pump when he was still a medical student some 75 years ago. The roller pump continues to be the basis for heart-lung machines today.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Unlikely, but not impossible. If this is your interest, keep at it!

My freshman year roommate from college has over 200 patents for ortho spine devices, and has yet to have one reach the market.

 

[docB]

If you're serious about this you need to hire a patent attorney. They will search existing patents to see if your idea is really new and unique. If it is you could patent it and then try to find a manufacturer to make it and sell it. As mentioned the odds of this happening are poor but not non-existent.

 

[Law2Doc]

If you're serious about this you need to hire a patent attorney. They will search existing patents to see if your idea is really new and unique. If it is you could patent it and then try to find a manufacturer to make it and sell it. As mentioned the odds of this happening are poor but not non-existent.

Agreed. The first thing to do is have somene do a patent search. If it or major components of it are already patented, you are probably SOL. If it isn't patented, your next step would be to patent it, which will be a bit costly, but if it's a valuable invention, it might be worth it. If this invention is something that falls under the FDA or another federal agencies supervision, you may have to have it approved by them as well, which can become involved, and involve conducting studies, particularly if this is something that will go inside a patient.

Then you need to pitch the idea to manufacturers, or set up your own business to do this. As others have mentioned, not all inventions are good ones. You will have to show not only that it is a good idea, but that it makes folks more efficient, results in reduced mortality, or you can make it for a fraction of the cost, or some other benefit over the status quo. Meaning you might invent a better kind of clamp or pin, but if the old one works fine and everyone is familiar with the old one, and nobody suffers any morbidity or mortality due to use of the old one, and the old one is dirt cheap, there may not be a demand for something new and "better". If it was easy, everyone would do it.

There isn't a surgeon around who hasn't thought about how an implement would be better if there was a bend in it for X operation, or a removable piece for Y operation. But they rarely go down the inventor route because the effort tends to outweigh the benefit. Instead, they may mention the idea to a rep from a product supplier, in hopes that they will come up with something.

 

[ertraumashield]

Thanks everyone! See, the problem is my parents won't believe me. I've had doctors and nurses fall in love with the idea, but if I told my parents they wouldn't believe me. It's a hand brace idea, which is all I'm going to say about it. It's sopoused to help the splint stay in place and speed up the healing time. I would need to do a clincial trial to find out if this could work or not.

But what about my cousin's husband who is a surgeon? And if I did talk to him about the splint, how would I get him to take me seriously?

Thanks again. :]

 

[docB]

But what about my cousin's husband who is a surgeon? And if I did talk to him about the splint, how would I get him to take me seriously?

Unless he's an ortho surgeon he won't care. But you're missing the point. The point isn't about impressing some random doc. The point is to figue out if you have a new and marketable idea.

 

[Law2Doc]

Unless he's an ortho surgeon he won't care. But you're missing the point. The point isn't about impressing some random doc. The point is to figue out if you have a new and marketable idea.

Agreed. Doesn't matter if everyone loves the idea. Just because you don't see the product on the market doesn't mean it's "unique" as the law defines it. There may be some individual or company who already has a patent on something very similar but never got it to the market. In which case you aren't legally allowed to do anything with the idea. So the first step is always going to be to hire a lawyer to do a patent search, and if the idea is unpatented, you'd want to get a patent.

 

[Tired]

It's a hand brace idea, which is all I'm going to say about it. It's sopoused to help the splint stay in place and speed up the healing time. I would need to do a clincial trial to find out if this could work or not.

I'm not trying to be rude, but it's really unlikely that you understand hand anatomy enough. The manner that the fingers and wrist are positioned depends on the nature of the injury itself, and failure to do it correctly has long lasting implications on the function retained.

Your first step is not to do a patent search. It's to look at the literature on this and talk to an Orthopod. There's a lot more that goes into a correctly-formed splint than you (or actually most non-Ortho physicians) realize.

 

[ertraumashield]

I'm not trying to be rude, but it's really unlikely that you understand hand anatomy enough. The manner that the fingers and wrist are positioned depends on the nature of the injury itself, and failure to do it correctly has long lasting implications on the function retained.

Your first step is not to do a patent search. It's to look at the literature on this and talk to an Orthopod. There's a lot more that goes into a correctly-formed splint than you (or actually most non-Ortho physicians) realize.

I already realized that before I made the brace. But thanks for the suggestion.