Axonics, a medical technology company that has developed and is commercialising novel implantable Sacral Neuromodulation (SNM) devices for the treatment of bladder and bowel dysfunction, announces completion of a post-approval US physician seminar series and the results of surveys collected from the attendees. Axonics sponsored five one-day Saturday seminars held over the past two months in Orlando, Irvine, Dallas, Boston and Atlanta, all in the USA.
More than 325 experienced SNM implanting physicians attended the one-day seminars. The seminar content included background on Axonics, a detailed overview of the Axonics r-SNM system, SNM implant best practices, a review of clinical outcomes with the Axonics r-SNM system and a panel discussion with physicians experienced in implanting the Axonics device. In addition, attendees participated in hands-on product demonstrations of the system.
The results of the seminar surveys are below:
Demographics
- 57% of the attendees were urologists, 36% were urogynecologists and the balance colorectal surgeons.
SNM Volume
- The average number of annual implants per physician attendee was 31 with 30% of the attendees doing between 26–50 implants annually and 10% doing over 51 implants annually.
- Total estimated annual implant volume was over 10,000 representing an estimated annual dollar value of implants of approximately US$175 million.
Biggest obstacles to expansion of the SNM market
- Physicians responded overwhelmingly that the biggest obstacles to having more patients select SNM therapy is “lack of patient awareness,” followed by “lack of full body MRI compatibility” and “short life of the implant.”
Expectations for expansion of SNM implants
- 27% of attendees expect the number of SNM implants they do in 2020 to increase between 26–50%. A little over 23% of attendees expect 51–100% increases in volume of implants with 46% of attendees anticipating procedures to increase by 10–25%.
Reactions to the Axonics product offering
- 78% of attendees indicated that they were “definitely” planning to offer the Axonics r-SNM system to their patients and 20% indicated they were “likely.”
- 74% of attendees expect over 75% of their implant volume to be with the rechargeable Axonics r-SNM System and 20% expect 50% of their implant volume to be rechargeable. 6% expect 25% to be rechargeable.
- Compelling aspects of the Axonics r-SNM System included long life, ease of use, full body MRI compatibility, constant current technology and small size of the implant.
- Top considerations for selecting a SNM supplier were ranked in the following order: nearly 76% of attendees selected “Efficacy of the SNM System,” followed by 54% indicating “Features and Benefits,” with “OR and programming support by rep or clinical specialist” ranked third. “Marketing support and materials” was ranked fourth and “price” was ranked as the least important.
“These seminars, attended by around 30% of the top 1,000 SNM implanters in the USA, in addition to in-person visits by our US commercial team, certainly accomplished our objective of establishing broad exposure to the Axonics brand and generating significant interest for our product among top SNM implanters,” said Raymond W Cohen, Axonics CEO.
Cohen continued: “It is worthwhile to note that clinical efficacy is the most important consideration for selecting an SNM supplier amongst these physicians. In this regard, the 90% efficacy achieved for all implanted subjects in our pivotal clinical study will serve us well as we work diligently to convert more accounts to Axonics. We are pleasantly surprised that 96% of all attendees anticipate seeing double digit growth in SNM implant volume. This is consistent with our thesis that the market will expand greatly over the coming years, and that Axonics will instigate this growth. Since we started shipping in the USA on 28 October, demand for our product has been brisk and we expect to see this continue into 2020. “
