While the hip and knee reconstruction market struggles to generate significant growth in Europe and the US, the implants are increasingly being commoditized in countries with developing economies such as Brazil, India, and China, and driving their respective markets at a rapid pace, according to an August 25 report from London, UK-based research and consulting firm GlobalData.
The company’s report states the booming populations of Brazil, India, and China have a growing middle class that can afford a new quality of healthcare, and they are also gaining access to increased reimbursement.
As more training sessions take place in countries like China, where surgeons tend to devote more time to training compared with the US, there is promise for greater future adoption of techniques and products, said Linda Tian, MSc, GlobalData’s managing analyst covering medical devices. Tian also noted emerging economies are entering the US market with Food and Drug Administration-approved implants, with companies such as Taiwan-based United Orthopedics attempting to sell them at lower prices than those of products already on the market.
Multinational corporations have historically accounted for most of the market in these emerging countries, but now more than 30% of the market is held by domestic manufacturers, a change that has forced multinationals to rethink the value for the price of their products and to reassess their strategy for sustainability, said Tian.
