<<Do you think maybe people are just having cholesterol checked when they visit Dr. offices for physicals, routine blood tests, etc.? That way, they have insurance cover the cost. Just a thought.>>
Dave, I suppose that's possible. I guess the question is who is this test for? I presume it's not just for folks who see doctors regularly and know that they have to be concerned about cholestrol and heart disease...although the "monitoring market" could be a source for repeat users. The bigger market is the "healthy" people who maybe don't go to doctors all that much because they feel okay and they aren't particularly concerned about their hearts or cholestrol levels. While many in this group maybe one-time users (i.e. those testing okay) some, with bad tests, could perhaps become repeat users.
While J&J pitched their ads to the "healthy" group ("everyone should know his/her cholestrol number"), they priced the product for the "monitoring market" (i.e. people who were so worried they'd pay $50 for a kit with 2 tests). Perhaps that not a good market for the product. Monitoring folks may be more likely to have the test done with doctor visits, paid for by insurance. Chemtrak seems to have corrected J&J's pricing error by making the price more appropriate for the curious & casual user (but it's also good for the repeater). However, I think they're still going to have the same problem that J&J had of getting "healthy" people to buy the kits. Unlike the HIV test, where people check the consequences of a known behavior, and an ulcer test, where the pain tells you something is going on, selling the cholestrol test to "feeling-okay-healthy" people requires something more than an expectation that everyone really does want to know their cholestrol number. Maybe doctors would like everyone to think like that, but they don't.
Ron |
