The Asia-Pacific medical device market enters the fast lane, faster than global growth

Pharmaceutical Economic News 　2011-05-18　Keywords: medical equipment, market

　　In the next three years, the medical device market in the Asia-Pacific region will grow at a rate of more than 10%. This growth rate is higher than the 6% predicted growth rate of the global medical device industry. Driven by major factors such as higher requirements for safe, reliable and cost-effective treatments by medical and healthcare institutions, as well as consumer demand for better medical products, the medical device market in the Asia-Pacific region will achieve rapid growth.

　　At present, the size of the medical device market in the Asia-Pacific region is approximately US$55 billion, accounting for approximately a quarter of the global medical device market (more than US$230 billion). Medical device manufacturers are more optimistic about the potential opportunities in the treatment of diabetes-related diseases and cardiovascular, orthopedics and infectious diseases.

　　In order to promote the development of the medical device market, most countries in the Asia-Pacific region are adopting stricter regulatory policies on medical device product approval and production specifications.

　　One example is Malaysia. The country established the first set of medical device regulations in 2008 in accordance with the Medical Device Law. In Malaysia, medical device product registration is not mandatory. However, with the passage of time, Malaysia is expected to introduce more laws and regulations related to the production and import of medical devices.

　　The size of the medical device market in Malaysia is at a medium level, with a value of approximately US$600 million; 90% of medical devices are imported from abroad, most of which come from the United States. Among the medical devices imported by Malaysia, US medical device manufacturers account for more than 25%.

　　Japan: Strong demand for breast screening

　　As of 2020, the number of breast cancer cases in Japanese women is expected to increase by 25%, which is higher than the 14% predicted growth rate in the United States and the EU during the same period. One of the main reasons for the sharp increase in incidence is the pollution of the Japanese environment and changes in female hormone levels. The lack of exercise and dietary changes in Japanese women also played an important role.

　　Since 1999, breast cancer mortality in Japan has been on the rise. Currently, breast cancer accounts for about 9% of the total deaths from cancer in Japanese women, which is an increase from 7% in 1999. However, the ratio of breast cancer mortality among Japanese women to mortality from other cancers is still lower than 15% in the United States. In Japan, delayed diagnosis of breast cancer is a major cause of the increase in mortality.

　　In Japan, a common breast cancer screening method is mammography. However, compared with Japanese women in their 50s, mammography screening is less likely to detect breast cancer in Japanese women in their 40s. This is because women in their 40s have thicker breast tissue, which makes it more difficult to detect breast cancer through mammography.

　　In recent years, a more effective screening method has been increasingly recognized in Japan, the United States and Europe, and this is ultrasound elastography. This method uses tissue elastography technology, which uses ultrasound equipment to clinically diagnose breast diseases. Studies have shown that ultrasound elastography is more effective than mammography in identifying malignant and benign breast lesions. But in other parts of Asia, the efficacy of ultrasound elastography for breast cancer diagnosis is still in the early stage of research.

　　India: Diagnostics business will grow by 20%

　　In the next three years, the Indian diagnostic business is expected to grow at a rate of about 20%. By the end of 2013, the market for medical diagnostic products will reach approximately US$2 billion.

　　5% of India’s GDP is invested in healthcare, which is much lower than the 15% in the United States. However, due to the continuous increase of government and private expenditures in the field of healthcare, India's healthcare expenditure will increase. Other factors driving the development of health care business include the increasing number of middle- and high-income groups, the demand for more comprehensive health care services, and the increasing number of medical insurance applicants.

　　In Indian medical institutions, more than two-thirds of medical activities are based on local diagnostic services, which include laboratory pathology tests. There are about 100,000 diagnostic laboratories in India, which is about half of that in the United States. The amount of tests provided by Indian laboratories varies greatly. Regional laboratories and hospital laboratories can do hundreds of tests a day, and large laboratories can do 2,000 to 3,000 tests a day.