CytoSorbents Corporation (CTSO)

[techxen]

Raptor, I think some of the pricing in Italy is driven by the way their national health system is structured and financed. The funds in the system, which is financed through a corporate tax and a portion of the VAT tax, are then allocated by local health units to private and accredited hospitals. They have a DRG-based payment system but it is not applied to hospitals run by the local health units where they typically have a global budget. Also different regions have different degrees of funding. I don't believe the company has secured a dedicated reimbursement code yet in Italy so these prices could vary a lot between the regions. Also noteworthy, I read somewhere that teaching/university hospitals receive additional payments (typically 8% to 10% of overall revenue) to cover extra costs related to teaching so the device price could also be higher in those hospitals.

I found this information on how it works in Italy in case you are interested.

http://info.idrmedical.com/blog/the-reimbursement-environment-for-medical-devices-in-italy

Most investors forget that just because you have CE Mark approval in all these countries doesn't mean adoption is strictly a sales function (direct vs indirect) - reimbursement is key and it is a maze that is difficult to navigate.