The medical supplies and devices manufacturing industry includes about 12,000 companies with combined annual revenue of $78 billion. Large manufacturers include Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Medtronic, and Boston Scientific. The industry is slightly concentrated: the 50 largest companies hold close to 60 percent of the market.

Medical supply and device manufacturers produce instruments, apparatus, and supplies used in the medical field. The industry doesn't include the manufacture of x-ray or electromedical equipment and devices, such as ultrasound equipment, pacemakers, and electrocardiographs.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by population demographics and advances in medical knowledge and technology. The profitability of individual companies depends on the ability to develop superior products. Large companies have economies of scale in manufacturing and R&D. Small companies can compete successfully by specializing in a particular market segment, or through technical innovation. Annual revenue per employee is about $250,000.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major products include surgical and medical instruments such as syringes, hypodermic needles, and catheters (nearly 40 percent of industry revenue), and surgical appliances and supplies such as sutures, surgical dressings, and orthopedic devices (also about 40 percent). Other sources of revenue include lab equipment and furniture (centrifuges, scales, operating tables, hospital beds); ophthalmic goods (prescription glasses, contact lenses); and dental equipment and supplies.

Syringes are typically produced in assembly lines. The basic stages include needle formulation, plastic component molding, piece assembly, packaging, labeling, and shipping. Needles are produced from molten ...

Summary

This report is an essential source for in-depth information and data relating to the UK medical equipment market. The report provides an overview of the market structure, healthcare system, regulatory environment, reimbursement policies, distribution structure and trade associations for the UK medical equipment market. It also offers detailed and comprehensive coverage of market revenue, volume, distribution and company share; and news, financial deals, pipeline products information by medical equipment sector.

Scope
The report provides an overview of the medical equipment industry in UK and provides data and information on each of the key industries - cardiovascular devices, orthopedic devices, anesthesia and respiratory devices, patient monitoring devices, ophthalmic devices, hospital supplies, dental devices, diagnostic imaging devices, endoscopy devices, and in-vitro diagnostics.
It details the healthcare system, market structure, regulatory environment, reimbursement policies, distribution structure and trade associations for UK medical equipment market.
It also provides detailed data on market size by volume and value, key company share information for leading competitors in the market, revenues by distribution channel, and forecasts of market values.
All figures are based on rigorous research methodologies including in-depth primary and secondary research.
Reasons to buy
A single source to fulfill all of your business and competitor intelligence needs
Gain a strong understanding of the countrys medical industry and the 18 key sectors within it.
Evaluate the attractiveness of the geography for medial equipment investment in the light of government policies and the reimbursement regime.
Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.
Analyze the competitiveness of the market and target the shares of key competitors.
Develop strategies based on the latest product, brand, and regulatory events.
Do deals with an understanding of how competitors are financed, and the mergers and partnerships that have shaped the market.
Identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the industry incumbents.

 

This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in wholesaling medical professional equipment, instruments, and supplies (except ophthalmic equipment, instruments and goods used by ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians). The industry supplies goods to hospitals, private practice, specialists, dental practices and laboratories. Products include surgical and medical equipment, electromedical equipment, laboratory apparatus, hospital beds and furniture, surgical appliances and systems, dental equipment and supplies, and irradiation equipment. In recent years participants have lost sales to manufacturers as customers bypass the wholesaler and purchase direct from the manufacturer.

The Key Statistics chapter provides the key indicators for the industry for at least the last three years. The statistics included are industry revenue, industry gross product, employment, establishments, exports, imports, domestic demand and total wages.

The Market Characteristics chapter covers the following: Market Size, Linkages, Demand Determinants, Domestic and International Markets, Basis of Competition and Life Cycle. The Market Size section gives the size of the domestic market as well as the size of the export market. The Linkages section lists the industry's major supplier and major customer industries. The Demand Determinants section lists the key factors which are likely to cause demand to rise or fall. The Domestic and International Markets section defines the market for the products and services of the industry. This section provides the size of the domestic market and the proportion accounted for by imports and exports and trends in the levels of imports and exports. The Basis of Competition section outlines the key types of competition between firms within the industry as well as highlighting competition from substitute products in alternative industries. The Life Cycle section provides an analysis of which stage of development the industry is at.

The Segmentation chapter covers the following: Products and Service Segmentation, Major Market Segments, Industry Concentration and Geographic Spread. The Products and Service Segmentation section details the key products and/or services provided by this industry, highlighting the most important where possible to demonstrate which have a more significant influence over industry results as a whole. The Major Market Segments section details the key client industries and/or groups as well as giving an indication as to which of these are the most important to the industry. The Industry Concentration section provides an indicator of how much industry revenue is accounted for by the top four players. The Geographic Spread section provides a guide to the regional share of industry revenue/gross product.

The Industry Conditions chapter covers the following: Barriers to Entry, Taxation, Industry Assistance, Regulation and Deregulation, Cost Structure, Capital and Labor Intensity, Technology and Systems, Industry Volatility and Globalization. The Barriers to Entry section outlines factors that can prevent a new company from entering this industry and also gives an indication of the extent to which this occurs. The Taxation section details all kinds of taxation that are specific or are particularly important to this industry, including taxation concessions. The Industry Assistance section refers to any government and/or other measures designed to improve the performance of this industry. The Regulation and Deregulation section details any applicable regulation and/or deregulation to this industry. The Cost Structure section details the average costs for a company operating in this industry as a percentage of total revenue. The Capital and Labor Intensity section provides a guide to the amount of capital used in production/providing a service compared to the amount of labor in the total mix of inputs. The Technology and Systems section acknowledges the latest technology and/or systems available to this industry within the country. Technology refers to machinery and equipment and systems refers to methods of production that enable better and more efficient production. The Industry Volatility section refers to the year on year fluctuations which occur in industry output. The Globalization section gives an indication of the extent to which the industry is global based on factors such as the level of foreign ownership, the proportion of demand accounted for by foreign operators and the volume of production conducted in other countries.

The Performance chapter provides an analysis of both the industry's Current Performance and Historical Performance. The Current Performance section provides the key analysis for the industry over the past five years with key performance indicators discussed. The Historical Performance section details previously important events in the development of the industry.

The Key Competitors chapter lists the major players in the industry as well as an analysis of each major player's activities in the industry. Market share information is included where possible.

The Key Factors chapter covers the industry's Key Sensitivities and Key Success Factors. The Key Sensitivities section outlines the key factors that are outside the control of an operator in the industry, but are likely to have significant impact on a business. The Key Success Factors section details the factors within the control of an industry operator and which should be followed in order to be successful in the industry. Often this will include behavior that will help to minimize the effects of the Key Sensitivities.

The Outlook chapter is a key analysis section of the report and outlines expectations for the key industry indicators over the next five year period, including forecasts.

Doctors have long known that statins can help prevent subsequent heart attacks and strokes in patients who have already had one of these cardiovascular events. Additionally, statins have been shown to have a protective effect for patients who haven't yet had a heart attack or stroke but are at high risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Consequently, doctors currently prescribe these drugs both to patients with established cardiovascular disease, as well as those with high cholesterol and other risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease such as diabetes. About 33 million older adults - men age 50 or older and women age 60 or older - are currently eligible to take statins based on these criteria.

However, notes Erin D. Michos, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute, about half of all cardiovascular events occur in patients who don't have high cholesterol, and about 20 percent of these events occur in people who have no identifiable cardiovascular disease risk factor. Until recently, doctors haven't been sure if any of these patients might also benefit from statin therapy.

Last November, a research team led by doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston announced the results of a study known as the JUPITER trial that involved nearly 18,000 patients.. They found that statins protect against heart attacks and strokes even in older adults without known cardiovascular disease or diabetes and with low cholesterol, below 130 mg/dl-a group that isn't usually prescribed statins-as long as these patients also had high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a blood marker for inflammation. Recent research has shown that inflammation plays an important role in initiating cardiovascular events, says Michos, but at-risk patients aren't routinely tested for CRP levels.

Building on the JUPITER trial results, Michos and Hopkins cardiology professor Roger S. Blumenthal, M.D., wondered how many patients in the United States fit the low-cholesterol, high-CRP profile featured in the study and might also benefit from taking statins. To get an estimate, they gathered data generated by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES. This research program, which has gathered various health data from thousands of Americans from 1971 to the present, weights the data from its participants so that they're representative of the entire United States population.

After searching NHANES between the years 1999 and 2004 for participants that fit the JUPITER profile, then extrapolating that to the general population, Michos and Blumenthal estimate that about 6.5 million older adults with low cholesterol and high CRP might benefit from statins. If they expanded their search criteria to the cholesterol level cutoff of 160 mg/dl that doctors often use when deciding to prescribe statins, the researchers increased this statin-benefiting group's size to 10 million.

"We're showing that doctors may be able to prevent thousands of heart attacks, strokes and deaths each year if we expand statin-prescribing criteria to include C-reactive protein levels, something we can assess as part of a simple blood test," says Michos.

The team points out in the study, published in the March 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, that based on JUPITER's results, prescribing statins to older adults using this new criteria that incorporates CRP would prevent about 260,000 cardiovascular events over five years.

An automated analyser is a medical instrument designed to measure different chemicals and other characteristics in a number of biological samples quickly, with minimal human assistance.

These measured properties of blood and other fluids may be useful in the diagnosis of disease.

Many methods of introducing samples into the analyser have been invented. This can involve placing test tubes of sample into racks, which can be moved along a track, or inserting tubes into circular carousels that rotate to make the sample available. Some analysers require samples to be transferred to sample cups. However, the effort to protect the health and safety of laboratory staff has prompted many manufacturers to develop analysers that feature closed tube sampling, preventing workers from direct exposure to samples.

Coagulometers
Automated coagulation machines or Coagulometers measure the ability of blood to clot by performing any of several types of tests including Partial thromboplastin times, Prothrombin times (and the calculated INRs commonly used for therapeutic evaluation), Lupus anticoagulant screens, D dimer assays, and factor assays.

Coagulometers require blood samples that have been drawn in tubes containing sodium citrate as an anticoagulant. These are used because the mechanism behind the anticoagulant effect of sodium citrate is reversible. Depending on the test, different substances can be added to the blood plasma to trigger a clotting reaction. The progress of clotting may be monitored optically by measuring the absorbance of a particular wavelength of light by the sample and how it changes over time.

Why should I test dental unit waterlines?

Dental treatment water is normally contaminated beyond drinking water standards.  The amount of contamination found in municipal drinking water is less than 500 colony forming units/milliliter (cfu/mL), but the dental handpiece is very often contaminated in excess of 1,000,000 cfu/mL.  The American Dental Association's goal of less than 200 cfu/mL can be achieved only by cleaning the dental unit water system and using water of low microbial count on a routine basis.

How can I test my dental unit waterlines?

The effectiveness of your in-house cleaning procedures can be evaluated only by faithful analysis of water samples from the unit.  We at Baylor College of Dentistry have been processing the waterline samples for dental practitioners for years and are at the cutting edge of research on controlling the microbial contamination of waterlines.

Call us for a waterline sampling kit.  We will send you a kit with water sample vials and a freezer pack in a styrofoam container.  The cost is $25.00 (payable in advance) for the first two vials and $20.00 for each additional set of two.  We will mail you a written report seven days after we receive your water samples in our lab.

August 19, 2008 Use of a silver-coated endotracheal tube significantly reduces the incidence of microbiologically confirmed ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), according to the results of a large, randomized, multicenter study reported in the August 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"VAP causes substantial morbidity," write Marin H. Kollef, MD, from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and colleagues from the North American Silver-Coated Endotracheal Tube Investigation Group. "A silver-coated endotracheal tube has been designed to reduce VAP incidence by preventing bacterial colonization and biofilm formation."

The goal of this prospective, single-blind study conducted in 54 centers in North America was to evaluate whether use of a silver-coated endotracheal tube would reduce the incidence of microbiologically confirmed VAP.

Of 9417 adult patients aged 18 years or older who were screened between 2002 and 2006, a total of 2003 patients who were expected to need mechanical ventilation for at least 24 hours were randomly assigned to undergo intubation with 1 of 2 high-volume, low-pressure endotracheal tubes. These tubes were similar except that the experimental tube had a silver coating.

The main endpoint was incidence of VAP, diagnosed from quantitative bronchoalveolar lavage fluid culture with at least 104 colony-forming units/mL in patients intubated for at least 24 hours. Secondary endpoints were VAP incidence in all intubated patients, time to VAP onset, length of intubation and duration of intensive care unit and hospital stay, mortality rates, and adverse events.

Rates of microbiologically confirmed VAP in patients intubated for at least 24 hours were 4.8% (37/766 patients; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.4% - 6.6%) in the group receiving the silver-coated tube and 7.5% (56/743; 95% CI, 5.7% - 9.7%; P = .03) in the group receiving the uncoated tube (relative risk reduction, 35.9%; 95% CI, 3.6% - 69.0%).

Rates of microbiologically confirmed VAP in all intubated patients were 3.8% (37/968; 95% CI, 2.7% - 5.2%) in the experimental group and 5.8% (56/964; 95% CI, 4.4% - 7.5%; P = .04) in the control group (relative risk reduction, 34.2%; 95% CI, 1.2% - 67.9%).

Use of the silver-coated endotracheal tube was associated with delayed occurrence of VAP (P = .005), but there were no statistically significant between-group differences in durations of intubation, intensive care unit stay, and hospital stay. Mortality rates and frequency and severity of adverse events were also similar in both groups.

"Patients receiving a silver-coated endotracheal tube had a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of VAP and delayed time to VAP occurrence compared with those receiving a similar, uncoated tube," the study authors write. "The silver-coated endotracheal tube appears to offer a unique approach because it is the first intervention that becomes user-independent after intubation, requiring no further action by the clinician."

Limitations of this study include single blinding rather than double blinding; use of a small, fixed block size stratified by center; other factors possibly contributing to between-group differences in VAP rates; study protocol not standardizing prevention strategies; and a protective effect of higher severity-of-illness scores against development of VAP.

In an accompanying editorial, Jean Chastre, MD, from Institut de Cardiologie, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpê trière in Paris, France, discusses the study limitations.

"Important uncertainties exist regarding the exact benefit of silver-coated endotracheal tubes," Dr. Chastre writes. "Consequently, silver coated tubes should not be viewed as the definitive answer for VAP prevention, and, until additional data confirm the clinical effectiveness and cost benefit of these devices, their use should be restricted to high-risk patients treated in ICUs [intensive care units] with benchmark value-based infection rates that remain above institutional goals despite implementation of a comprehensive strategy of usual preventive measures to prevent VAP."