Hello,

Previously, I worked in the OTC pharmaceutical field but since becoming a full time graduate student, I have a stemmed interest in medical devices for women’s health and have recently become involved in a project focusing on intrauterine devices (IUD’s). IUD’s were not popularized until the early 2000’s and have continued to rise in popularity since then. However, it seems reasonable to rationalize that they will steadily plateau in use for several reasons. The main reason being that everyone who is interested in the use of an IUD, should already have one. To balance this, the IUD should be replaced every 3 or 5 years, depending on the type of IUD administered and this will keep a steady flow of users for quite some time. Furthermore, as women age and either do not require an IUD for family planning purposes or for age related reasons, they will not continue its use. The aging population of young women who may become new users to the product once again balances this.
Currently, there are only 5 IUD’s approved for use and/or coverage in the United States and of those, 3 are manufactured by Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Due to the difficulty to obtain FDA approval and the long, costly process, many companies have not entered the market to make it more competitive yet. The future for this device may allow for more generics to be approved and make more IUD’s readily available, thus decreasing their price and possibly increasing the popularity of the product.

-Michelle F