Investors interested in the Medical Devices industry generally keep themselves busy analyzing existing trends – like longer life expectancies, mergers and acquisitions, emerging market opportunities, increased regulatory scrutiny and health care reforms. However, here are some of the emerging trends that one should also take into account, as these might eventually transform the prospects of industry.
Add to it, the overall favorable Zacks Industry Rank (#52 for medical products and #81 for medical instruments – both of which indicate a positive outlook) makes it a favorable space to bet on.
Home medical devices market evolves: Of late, self-health care (of course with growing awareness) has become one of the driving forces within the home medical devices market. A recent report published in mddionline.com states that the global home healthcare market will reach $303.6 billion by 2020, up over 70% from $176.1 billion in 2013. Some of the bigger players in this niche are Bayer AG (BAYRY – Analyst Report), Abbott Laboratories (ABT – Analyst Report) and Cardinal Health among others.
3D printing reforming personalized care: The global medical 3D printing market (dental, medical prosthetic, orthopedic and surgical instruments) is estimated to reach $983.2 million by 2020 with an impressive CAGR of 20.3%, per Meticulous Research. Companies those are likely to rule this market include Stratasys Ltd and 3D Systems, Inc.
Mobile applications gaining popularity: At present more than 500 million smartphone users worldwide sport health-related apps on their mobile devices and the number is projected to climb to more than 1.7 billion by 2018. This indicates enormous opportunity in this segment.
In Vitro Diagnostics to dominate: According to a survey by EvaluateMedTech World Preview, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) is expected to emerge as the sector leader by 2020 (14% of the total medical device market) with sales of $71.6 billion reflecting annual growth of 6.1%. Roche Holding AG (RHHBY – Analyst Report) is expected to lead this space with a 17% market share and sales of $12.20 billion by 2020.
