This is marketing research on the Medical Instruments and Devices industry and can include information on the background, market structure, definitions, competitors, trends and developments of medical instruments and is related to devices, supplies, health and surgery.

Table of Contents

1 Background 
2 Market Structure 
3 Market Metrics 
4 Industry Players 
5 Recent Trends and Developments 
6 Sources

Background

Medical instruments, devices and supplies constitute the largest sector of the U.S. medical device industry, accounting for approximately 36 percent of total industry shipments and employing 38 percent of its workers. This category covers a broad spectrum of products, including anesthesia apparatus, biopsy instruments, blood pressure apparatus, blood transfusion equipment, bronchoscopes except electromedical, cannulas, catheters, surgical clamps, physicians’ diagnostic apparatus, hemodialysis apparatus, hypodermic needles and syringes, IV transfusion apparatus, inhalation therapy equipment, operating tables, oxygen tents, surgical probes, retractors, suction therapy apparatus, trocars, and, since 1999, bone drills, plates, and screws.

As in other sectors of the medical device industry, employment has stayed relatively constant while production has expanded, resulting in a productivity increase. These productivity gains have made the industry more competitive in the world market.

Market Structure

The largest export category is bougies, catheters, drains, and sondes, representing 25 percent of all U.S. exports of surgical instruments and growing 15 percent in 1999 to $1.3 billion. Numerous other categories also showed double-digit export growth, including bone plates, screws, nails, and other internal fixation devices or appliances.

The number of establishments in the medical instruments industry has fallen slightly in the five year period leading up to 2002. As a result of industry wide consolidation, it now stands at slightly above 12,000.

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The workforce has expanded in this growing industry. Employment has increased over 10% in the industry - now stands at more than 300,000 and continues to add workers mid decade.

This is a moderately concentrated industry. The 50 largest firms are responsible for slightly more than half the industy's total revenues.

Concentration of Revenue by number of firms in the industry is as follows:


Total Number of firms       Revenue as % of all firms in the industry


     4 largest                              18.4%
     8 largest                              26.6%
    20 largest                              40.2%
    50 largest                              54.9%

Market Metrics

U.S. manufacturers exported 23 percent of their surgical instrument shipments at the end of the 1990s. The outlook for exports to the EU in 2000 was for steady growth, with an expected increase of 6 to 8 percent. As Japan begins a slow recovery after 2000, it will face an aging population and soaring health care costs. Growth for this sector may be hindered by a cost-conscious Japan seeking cheaper and lower technology products from other countries.

Revenue growth in medical instruments continues to handily outpace growth the growth in the general U.S. economy. In the five year period leading up to 2002, revenues climbed more than 35%.

Industry Players

These are major players in this market, but it is not an exhaustive list of all key firms.

Revenues, Net Income and Market Capitalization are expressed in US$ Millions.

Recent Trends and Developments

Two areas of this sector lead the way for the U.S. industry currently and will provide the best opportunity for continued market dominance: advances in catheters and minimally invasive surgery (MIS). These areas are also extremely competitive, and this has encouraged continued incremental improvements as U.S. firms battle for market share. The catheter market is the single largest export segment, and it continues to grow.

The United States dominates the market with approximately 75 percent of world market share. The catheter market is one of the most dynamic markets in this sector as advances in technology are changing use, design, and demand worldwide. The largest segment of the catheter market consists of dialysis and urinary catheters, which are used routinely in health care and are benefiting from increasing demand in emerging markets. Production and demand for vascular interventions such as stents and other catheters used in cardiac-related procedures, while representing a much smaller segment, are growing at double-digit rates. As the need for cardiac care increases and as competition heats up in this sector, the United States will continue to dominate and demand will continue to rise steadily for the next several years.

Other factors will play an important role in the medical and surgical instruments market in the next several years. The movement to home health care will increase demand for and spur innovation in traditional lower-tech technologies such as IV drug infusion equipment, blood pressure equipment, and medical furniture by making them more compact, lighter, and easier to use by the patient. The needle and syringe markets will be greatly affected by home health care and the need to protect health workers from accidental needlesticks. Already U.S. firms are responding to the proposed Health Care Worker Needlestick Reduction Act by improving the safety of needles with retraction, blunting, and other mechanisms. As blood-borne pathogens such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the hepatitis virus remain at epidemic levels worldwide, health care workers and public health policy makers will demand safer technologies for treating patients, and sales and innovation will increase. U.S. instruments will be preferred as they will lead the way in this innovative technology to improved safety.

Sources

Most current US government sources