TORONTO, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ — According to Millennium Research
Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market
intelligence, the Canadian interventional cardiology device market
is a highly competitive and dynamic market, with a small number of
large competitors fighting for market share in this extremely
profitable area. As of 2010, the drug-eluting stent segment
represented a $55 million market — the most lucrative of the
interventional cardiology device markets.
Entering the Canadian health system is, however, not easy for
device manufacturers. One of the biggest determinants of device
adoption in Canada is price because of the setup within the
Canadian public health care system. Facilities receive a budget
from the government that they must use to purchase devices in a way
that allows universal access for Canadian citizens to health care.
This means that the most advanced, and also premium-priced devices,
are often not used because hospitals and facilities cannot afford
to purchase them and still provide treatment to all patients. This
not only limits Canadian interventional cardiology device market
revenues, but also further deters manufacturers from entering or
launching new products in the Canadian interventional cardiology
device market because it is not viewed as cost effective by
manufacturers.
“Growth in drug-eluting stent procedure volumes — which will
occur at the expense of bare-metal stent procedures — will be
sustained through 2015,” says Adrienne Ma, Analyst at MRG.
“According to interventional cardiologists interviewed by
MRG, drug-eluting stent prices are falling dramatically in Canada
because of competitive pricing pressures caused by manufacturers
fighting to bolster their market share by maintaining and
establishing new contracts with hospitals. The upside to the
pricing declines is that facilities are able to afford more
drug-eluting stents within the same constrained budget that is
applied by
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