Market Executive Summary

REPORT HIGHLIGHT

The reprocessed medical devices market is estimated to represent a global market of USD 1,732 million by 2017 with growth rate of 17.4%. Variety of single-use medical devices emerges in the market over the last few decades in order to prevent disease transmission to other patients. However, due to economic reason, the practice of reprocessing single usable medical devices is evolved among many healthcare settings in past few years. Needlessly discarding such equipment post-use, these facilities have begun to reprocess them. As per the survey conducted by the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research, in October 2010, stated that rapid growth in the healthcare industry has pressured hospital setting to reuse costly medical devices, intended for single use.

The growth of reprocessed medical devices is primarily driven by the rising pressure of government bodies to reduce the volume of regulated medical wastes by healthcare companies. For example, according to the World Health Organizations (WHO), modern hospital settings generate a large amount of solid medical waste, ranging from single-use medical devices to electronics. The organization estimated that around 15% to 25% healthcare waste contains chemical, biological or radiological hazard. This has fuelled the demand for the utilization of reprocessed medical devices, leading to the market growth.

Furthermore, the uptake of reprocessed medical devices is increasing rapidly due to its cost-effectiveness. According to the American College of Cardiology, more than half the U.S.?s hospital facilities send some of their single-use medical devices to Reprocesses. Previously, a majority of reprocessing process was carried out in hospital reprocessing centres. Nowadays, third party reprocessing industry has emerged which offers an efficient way of reprocessing needs. On another side, existing variability in end-users approach to reuse and reprocess medical devices adds ethical issues and poses a potential risk to the patient?s safety. It is noticed that medical facilities do not undertake comprehensive evaluation before reusing disposable medical equipment. These have raised concerns regarding the patient safety, environmental risk, and legal liability to utilize single-use medical devices.

Also, traditionally, medical devices are composed of metal, rubber and glass materials. However, the healthcare industry is shifted to the use of single usable medical devices, which is certainly manufactured from inexpensive plastic materials. Reprocessing such devices often raise the risk to provoke toxic responses or to develop life-threatening diseases. The potential legal consequences and risk associated with the practice of reprocessing and reusing SUDs are expected to hamper the market growth to some extent.

In terms of disease conditions, the market is categorized as Cardiovascular, Laparoscopic, Orthopedic, Gastroenterology, and others. Different devices are covered under each category to understand the trend, demand and future prospect of reprocessing those devices under each category. For instance, under cardiovascular, devices such as blood pressure cuffs, cardiac stabilization, diagnostic electrophysiology (EP) catheters, electrophysiology cables, and other are considered while estimating the market. Cardiovascular segment captured more than 55% share of the global market.

Growing availability of a wide range of reprocessed cardiovascular devices coupled with increasing involvement of third parties such as Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) with hospitals and surgery centers support the market growth. Cardiology devices are further divided into Positioning Devices, Blood Pressure Cuffs, Cardiac Stabilization Devices and Diagnostic Electrophysiology Catheters. Laparoscopy devices are categorized as Harmonic Scalpels and Endoscopic Trocars. The end-user segment is classified as hospitals, home facility, and others.

Regionally, North America captured the largest share of the global market. Increasing need for reprocessing medical devices and advancement in technologies would, in turn, drive the market growth. For example, the Canadian Agency of Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) conducted a study to identify the need for reprocessing single-use medical devices. The study revealed that more than 30% of the healthcare facilities routinely reused medical equipment, intended for single?use. Developing regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America is expected to grow with the highest growth rate owing to the rising demand for cost-effective medical devices.

Companies such as GE Healthcare, Stryker Sustainability Solutions, Sterilmed, Inc., Suretek Medical, and others are profiled in the report. Stryker Sustainability Solutions is considered to be the major participant in global market owing to extensive promotional activities, strong product portfolio, and strategic alliances. For instance, the company implements most impactful initiatives to provide reprocessing services. The company undertakes reprocessing procedures through rigorous studies such as design verification, design validation, reverse engineering, cleaning and sterilizing and performance testing. These will contribute towards the significant market share of companies during the future period.