The market for the specialised devices used for neurosurgical and neurovascular treatments will grow to US$240 million by 2016, according to research made by Millenium Research Group (MRG).
The growth will be driven largely by an aging population in the United States that will suffer an increasing incidence of conditions such as stroke, cerebral aneurysms and intracranial atherosclerosis disease.
Hydrocephalus shunts will generate the largest part of the revenues in this market and will grow the fastest through 2016. Hydrocephalus devices command a premium price and are associated with a high repeat-procedure rate. While repeat procedures boost unit sales, they have also encouraged a search for more durable treatment options. It is likely that endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), which promises a long term shunt-free solution for some patients, will increasingly become the treatment of choice, cutting into hydrocephalus shunt sales.
Medtronic and Codman & Shurtleff are the leading companies in the USA hydrocephalus shunt market, but will be increasingly challenged by Integra LifeSciences, which has successfully secured numerous distribution agreements with hospitals recently.
Devices used in treating intracranial aneurysms include neurovascular clips, which compete with embolization procedures, including those that employ the use of neurovascular stents and balloon catheters. The arrival of new and innovative endovascular products for the treatment of wide-necked, unruptured intracranial aneurysms, including ev3’s Pipeline Embolization device and NeuroVasx’s cPAX aneurysm treatment system (both approved in 2011) will limit the growth of these segments.
“A large influence on this market will also come from the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” said MRG analyst Prabjot Bal. “These call for greater transparency in reporting the incidence of hospital-acquired infections and monitoring medical errors leading to such cases. This will encourage the adoption of premium-priced devices that decrease the likelihood of hospital-acquired infections, such as antimicrobial catheters for external ventricular drainage, thus boosting that segment of the market.”
While unit sales of standard catheters will grow at an average of only 0.7% per year, sales of antimicrobial catheters will grow at 5.4%. Medtronic, Codman & Shurtleff and Integra LifeSciences are the major competitors in the external ventricular drainage device market, according to MRG’s report.
