Abstract
The economic cost of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke, a potential
consequence of CVD, is of staggering proportions, estimated by the American
Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to be
$403.1 billion in 2006. As a result of such high demand the cardiovascular
segment is one of the most fiercely fought over by medical device companies
which are investing heavily in device-based therapies that have the capability
to cost effectively treat CVD patients.
Competition between medical device companies in the market is increasingly
intense and as a consequence merger and acquisition activity rose dramatically
in the sector in 2006 and has continued into 2007. Part of this rise can be
attributed to an expanding US economy, increases in corporate profits and
stock prices, technological improvements, and growing product demand. The
large cardiovascular deals in 2006 were Boston Scientific taking Guidant in a
landmark $27 billion deal, the acquisition of Guidant' s vascular and
endovascular businesses by Abbott for $4.1 billion and J&J' s purchase of stent
maker Conor Medsystems for $1.4 billion. However there have been a number of
smaller but also significant deals such as ATS Medical, in a bid to flesh out
its cardiac surgery product line, acquiring 3F Therapeutics, an early-stage
company specialising in minimally-invasive, beating heart tissue valve
replacements, and, in 2007 acquiring the surgical cryoablation business of
CryoCath Technologies.
The two big sectors of the cardiovascular market where there are the most
valuable markets to conquer are coronary stents and cardiac rhythm management
devices.
This report examines the impact of new technologies and the growth of the
various sectors of the cardiovascular device market in addition to describing
the main geographical markets and the emerging ones such as India, South East
Asia, China, which, due to their rapid economic growth are attracting the
attention of market players of all sizes. However gaining access to a market
with a novel or even a "me too" cardiovascular device is no easy procedure as,
in addition to being costly products to reimburse, they frequently fall into
the highest of the risk class of devices and the report therefore examines the
barriers and procedures required for entering these markets.
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