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Obama Plans To Bring Stellar Growth For Healthcare Information Technology
Driven by the realization of an ever-increasing necessity to strengthen and streamline healthcare delivery and management, the US Healthcare Information Technology (IT) market which was valued at $3.4 billion in 2007 is expected to grow by 14.6% annually to reach $6.72 billion by 2012. Barack Obamas plan to tackle health issues brings a positive development for medical device manufacturers, particularly in the Healthcare IT sector, where it is forecast to drive nearly 15% per annum growth. Given the recent downtrend in the market and lack of credit, Obamas plan provides an excellent opportunity for Medical Companies as the number of people going from uninsured to insured will be increasing. Under Obamas plan, insurance companies will be forced to insure people with a history of health issues. That should be a welcome sign as reimbursements for such individuals continue to pile up. $10 billion investment over 5 years in Healthcare IT is a long standing change needed for the health care system to move from paper based records to standardized electronic based systems. This will allow medical insurance portability from job to job and across state lines, making it easier for employers to provide insurance to their employees, Above all making health insurance affordable to 45 million uninsured people should increase the number of individuals using medical devices.
Home Healthcare Equipment Market Is Poised For A Big Return In 2009 Owing To Cost Containment Efforts By Both Providers And Purchasers
Consumers interest in their health is increasing the opportunities for home healthcare device manufacturers who provide a connected view of the individuals well being. The forecast upcoming recession will lead more people to treat themselves at home. Healthcare equipment like Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Devices, nebulizers, drug delivery devices, digital signal processing hearing aids, glucose monitoring systems and self test (IVD) devices are set for a high single digit to double digit growth rate in the next 5 years. This trend is gaining prominence because of the need to reduce medical costs. This is leading to better reimbursement rates from insurers. The global market for home healthcare devices is set to grow by more than 9% from 2007 to 2012 with the market exceeding $70 billion in 2012.
Emerging Medical Equipment Markets Will Continue To Grow In 2009, Assisted By The Ongoing Trend Towards Medical Tourism And Helping To Offset Any Negative Impact Felt By The General Economic Downturn
Multinational companies will continue to relocate manufacturing operations in emerging economies to ensure that they can capitalize on the increased wealth and healthcare spend allocated by consumers and governments in key markets like China, Brazil, India and Taiwan in 2007. As governments continue to remove restrictions on medical imports and the ability of foreign manufacturers to enter key markets, we can expect to see multinational companies increase market share and dominate key sectors and help drive the growth of medical tourism. Medical tourism is one of the fastest growing industries and countries like India, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines have become favorite destinations for patients from developed countries. Huge price differentials, availability of advanced technologies in private hospitals and highly skilled medical professionals in these countries are driving the medical tourism business. In 2002, Indian medical tourism generated $300 million in revenue. Since 2002 there has been an increase of 25% in medical tourists to India. Indian medical tourism revenue is forecast to reach $2 billion in 2012 when compared with $800 million in 2007 with a growth rate of 29% CAGR from 2007 to 2012.
| Table 1: Procedure costs , US, UK, India, Thailand, Singapore, ($), 2008 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Procedure Cost | US | UK | India | Thailand | Singapore |
| Heart bypass surgery | 24,000 | 20,000 | 6,500 | 8,000 | 10,500 |
| Hear valve replacement surgery | 200,000 | 90,000 | 8,500 | 10,000 | 12,500 |
| Spinal fusion | 20,000 | 10,000 | 2,000 | 3,500 | 4,500 |
| Cosmetic surgery | 62,000 | 50,000 | 5,500 | 7,000 | 9,000 |
Source: Planning Commission of India and Global Markets Direct
Major Medical Equipment Manufacturers To Remain Stable In Spite Of Mounting Financial Crisis
The impact of the credit crunch on medical device companies, and particularly their Research and Development (R&D) spend has been limited. Most of the big companies are still committing an average of 10% of their revenues towards R&D. Companies with more diversified portfolios are less susceptible to market fluctuations, hence they are likely to remain stable in the face of the global economic turmoil. For example, Abbott is raising its guidance for the full-year 2008. The company reported double-digit sales growth in each major global business with worldwide sales growth of 17% in the third quarter for 2008 when compared with the third quarter of 2007. Similarly Medtronic recorded 2009 first quarter revenue of $3.706 billion, a 19 percent increase over the $3.127 billion reported in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. Smith & Nephew reported a revenue growth of 9% with a trading profit of 3% in third quarter of 2008 when compared with 2007. All these companies along with Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Cardinal Health, and B Braun, 3M Health Care, Roche Diagnostics and Becton Dickinson are volume driven, which makes them less risk prone to the ongoing financial crisis. Another big factor that is insulating the medical device companies from the current economic concerns is Medical Professionals unwillingness to switch from a product they are comfortable with. Unlike the pharmaceuticals and biotech industries which are characterized by lengthy product development, regulatory approval processes, patent law suites and huge R&D investments, medical equipment companies are cash rich and do not have many patent issues.
Direct To Consumer Advertising Of Medical Devices To Continue To Increase In Prominence In 2009
The Direct to Consumer (DTC) Advertising approach has been employed by medical device manufacturers for the past few years with some impressive results, a trend that is set to continue as the "baby boomer" generation continues to age. Notable among companies employing this strategy is Stryker which has been running ads using golf legend Jack Nicklaus to promote TridentR Acetabular, a ceramic replacement hip, Zimmer Holdings promoting replacement knees for women, Medtronic advertising heart defibrillators. The amount spent by the medical device industry for DTC Advertising through television and the internet was approximately $195 million in 2007 nearly doubling the amount spent in 2005. This is a significant amount when compared to almost no spending on DTC Advertising by medical device companies in 1996, especially considering $1.5 billion spent by medical device companies in 2005 on special trade journals that are typically accessed by doctors and hospitals. In the US, the number of people, 65 or older, roughly stand at 37 million in 2007 and is likely to reach 40 million approximately in 2010 and 55 million in 2020. On average, every 8 seconds a person from the baby boom generation turns 50 and the trend will continue over the next 10 years. A lot of baby boomers may require procedures for heart, knee, and hip at a young age when compared to their previous generations. Increased life expectancy and changing demographic trends may ultimately lead to increased usage of medical devices, especially in markets like diabetes, cardiology, orthopedics, neurology, diagnostic imaging.
| Table 2: Major DTC Advertising Campaigns | ||
|---|---|---|
| Company | Product | Medium |
| Bausch & Lomb | Soft contact lens & other products | Television, Print, Online |
| Carl Zeiss | Soft contact lens & other products | Television, Print, Online |
| Johnson & Johnson | Drug Eluting Coronary Stent | Television, Print, Online |
| Medtronic, Inc. | Implantable Cardioverter-defibrillator | Television, Print, Online |
| Zimmer Holdings | Knee Implant | |
| Stryker Corporation | Hip Implant, Knee Implant | Television, Print, Online |
| DePuy Orthopedics, Inc. | Knee Implant | Television, Print, Online |
| Biomet, Inc. | Hip Implant |
Source: Global Markets Direct
DTC Advertising ultimately drives the patients to seek medical attention thereby increasing the volume of patients, improves compliance, improves sales, builds the brand name and acts as a powerful tool for companies in terms of recruiting people for trials.
Healthcare Information Technology Spend To Gain Significant Attention In 2009 And Beyond From Both Developed And Emerging Economies
Mr Barack Obamas win in the US Presidential Election boosts the prospects of Healthcare IT in the US market in the next 5 to 10 years. To improve quality and efficiency and reduce healthcare costs, Obamas plan of investing $10 billion over 5 years is a sign of ITs importance in Healthcare. Healthcare IT has not only received attention from medical equipment manufacturers but also from big IT companies like Microsoft, Cognizant, IBM, and Intel among others. Healthcare IT has also received a boost from India and China with their planned investment in Healthcare in rural and middle tier cities. The Indian government went a step ahead offering a 5 year tax holiday for companies setting up hospitals and clinics in rural and middle tier cities. Apparent advantages of Healthcare IT is that it will force both the governments and healthcare providers towards long term investment in this sector and will be a trend in both developed and emerging economies. The Healthcare IT market in India is to grow at a rate of 7.5% CAGR from 2007 to 2012. This is significantly higher when compared with the previous years growth of 4.6% CAGR from 2000 to 2007.
Drug Eluting Stents On A Comeback Trail In The US Market In 2009
A US FDA statement saying that the use of Drug Eluting Stents (DES) are safe and have very minimum risk when they are used "on-label" should significantly improve the US market for DES. Positive results from Boston Scientifics TAXUS HORIZONS AMI trial, Abbott Laboratories SPIRIT I, II, III trial and Medtronics Third-Generation EndeavorR Resolute trial has renewed the faith in the product. One important outcome of these trials was that DES implantations not only open blocked coronary arteries but also chemically inhibit future blockage. This is evident in the third quarter results of Boston Scientific, Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic Corporation. The tremendous reception and sales of Abbotts XIENCE V puts doubts about the safety of DES to rest. As a result Global Markets Direct is forecasting a growth rate of 5% CAGR from 2008 to 2012 for the DES market in the US. This is a complete turnaround from the negative growth seen in 2006 and 2007.
Young Adults And Middle Aged Patients To Drive The US Market For Hip Resurfacing For Next Five Years
The US hip resurfacing market is set to grow in double digits during 2007 - 2012 but not as quickly as expected by some industry sources. The growth limiting factor is the patient pool comprising of adults and middle aged patients with good bone stock. Another factor contributing to the lower than expected growth is the limited number of doctors performing the hip resurfacing procedure. This is very small market in the US dominated by Smith & Nephew. Stryker entered the US market for hip resurfacing in 2007 with limited success so far. With no visible entrance of new companies in the near future, Smith & Nephew is set to dominate the US hip resurfacing market for a long time. The hip resurfacing market in the US is set to grow from 16 million in 2006 to 220 million in 2012 with a growth rate of 55% CAGR over the same time period.
Cash Rich And Innovative Companies To Benefit In The Current Economic Scenario
Low equity prices will give an opportunity for big companies to go after innovative companies developing products in niche markets for an equity share instead of financing. A prime example of this is Bausch & Lombs equity investment to acquire a minority share and securing exclusive rights to purchase - AcuFocus, Inc., a privately held company located in Irvine, California in January, 2007. The primary reason for Bausch & Lombs investment in AcuFocus Inc is to gain access to the corneal implant technology and AcuFocus ACI 7000. Big companies like Getinge, Hologic Corporation and small and upcoming companies like Small Bone Innovations, Core Essence Orthopaedics will be most watched for their existing and coming product lines.
Products Related To Womens Health, Minimally Invasive Surgery And Home Healthcare Are Set To Garner Special Attention In 2009
Cardiovascular diseases, Orthopedics, Diabetes care and Womens health related products will be keenly watched out for in 2009 as these issues account for the majority of peoples health concerns. Existing products that might have been slow to take off might find their way to the top of the market segments due to factors like better post launch numbers, lack of better alternatives, cost effectiveness and efficacy. Products like Breast Tomosynthesis should have a high impact once launched because of the products contrast-enhanced 3-D imaging and reduction or elimination of overlapping tissue. Although some of the products are extensions of existing products they nonetheless improve efficiency and overcome some of the disadvantages and limitations of existing products.
