Medical Device Growth Forecast Upgraded

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Healthcare market research firm Kalorama Information said that the aging population, innovative technologies and sales to new markets brought medical device sales to $386 billion in 2016 and the market will see average 3.8% growth in the next five years. This is a one percentage increase from the previous report by the firm in 2016. Kalorama cited many factors but notes that the industry is energized by brisk merger activity, previous research and development expenditure and emerging market sales. The firm revealed its growth in its report, The Global Market for Medical Devices, 8th Edition. 

Each year Kalorama looks at 15 Bellwether Medical Device Companies that are large but also represent different types of devices. J&J, Medtronic, Stryker, BD among them. Among the bellwether companies we look at, only Johnson and Johnson was down in revenues and that was a negligible percentage.

"Nearly everyone was up," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama information. "Our index shows growth of 7.4% as a whole for the world's top medical device companies, though that is affected by several device asset or business acquisitions by these companies and reflects a shift in revenues, not necessarily an indication of overall medical device market growth. That being said, it points towards device market growth."

According to the report, one of the most significant drivers of all healthcare services is population and specifically, the population of older persons. The aging of the population increases a host of statistics that lead to more medical device demand: injuries, surgical procedures, hospital admissions, chronic disease. The population is aging in the largest healthcare market, the United States, which alone is significant. However, other significant world healthcare markets are dealing with the challenge of aging populations, including those of Europe, Japan, and China.

M&A is a factor in the market. In this increasingly competitive market, medical device companies have been very active with acquisitions. It often goes beyond the desire to acquire novel technologies. Medical device companies are seeking strategic acquisitions to fill gaps in their portfolios in a manner that will help them offer more complete solutions. There is a trend toward consolidation, driven in part by the necessity to reduce costs as pricing pressures mount from hospital customers.

"M&A activity, especially when you see it over so many years as we have in medical devices, is a good market growth indicator," said Carlson. "If M&As are done for the right reasons, more effective devices are produced, poor sellers are eliminated, innovative products find better distribution."

Kalorama includes, as part of its coverage, this report contains: an overview of medical devices and their regulation in several world markets; market size estimate and forecast to 2020 for the global market, the United States market and several country markets, including China, Japan, India, Australia, Turkey, Brazil, Germany, UK, Spain, France, Italy, Canada and other nations; an index of bellwether device companies; markets for specific categories of medical devices; a look at market drivers and limiters; and company profiles of major device concerns. 

About Kalorama Information

Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services.