Michaela Latzelsberger, country manager of Coloplast Austria, a Danish medical device company focused on ostomy, continence and wound care, discusses the challenges of launching innovative medical devices on the Austrian market, especially considering the system’s undervaluation of quality of life data. Furthermore, she provides an overview of how Coloplast Austria is improving prevention in their select therapeutic fields and explains what must be done to ensure a sustainable long-term healthcare system.
Since taking up the country manager role in 2014, what differences have you noticed from previously working in the pharmaceutical sector, in companies such as AstraZeneca and Grünenthal, compared to the medical devices field?
"As long as we have the patients' consent and give support and not promotion, a medical device company is able to contact patients. This is of paramount importance for Coloplast as if one of our patients has concerns, we can easily provide them with the required assistance and link them to a specialized nurse."
