Medical Electronics Market Trend – Redefining the Patient Diagnostics Landscape

One of the core factors which is set to strengthen the growth of the medical electronics market is the growing elderly population in developed economies. Moreover, according to estimates by United Nations (UN) by 2059 one out pf six people will be over 65 years of age which depicts an increase of 16% from 2019 estimates which was every one out of eleven people. Furthermore, by the year 2050 one in four people living in Europe and North America is expected to be over 65 years od age. Moreover, the year 2018 marked a watershed moment i.e. globally the number of children under the age of 5 years was surpassed by the total number of people above the age of 65 years. Last but not the least, it is estimated that in 2050 the total number of individuals who are above 80 years will be triple accounting for 426 million and from 143 million in 2019.

The other factors, which are central to the anticipated acceleration of the medical electronics market are an expansive application range in diagnostics leading to a profusion of variety of products; growing cognizance of the importance of routine health checkup, and the convenience of using at-home-healthcare devices. Progressing to factors that are rendering the market conducive to further growth is the increasing technological compatibility with a variety of medical equipment stemming from technological innovation. Given the above as well as concerning ongoing efforts to treat the growing number of COVID 19 patients worldwide, the Shenzhen, China-based POSIFA TECHNOLOGIES, INC had in June 2020, reportedly launched a new series of mass airflow sensors named PMF8300. It is meant for being employed in respiratory care and other medical and instrumentation applications with enhanced accuracy, repeatability, and signal-to-noise performance at a relatively reduced cost. This particular component is also expected to serve as the key component in CPAP equipment, nebulizers, oxygen concentrators, respirators, ventilators, where the control of airflow volume to patients. Additionally, the component is also marketed to assist in providing mass flow measurement in environmental monitoring equipment and spectroscopy. Featured with silicon carbide protective film the sensor die is capable of offering the highest-level sensitivity concomitantly being protected against condensation thereby reducing the cost of packaging.

Population Aged 65+ of High-Income Countries (Forecast in Thousands)

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division

Rising adoption of IoT in healthcare leading to an increased rate of product innovation thereby facilitating the medical electronics market growth

With  a growing number of chronic diseases the healthcare industry is faced with an ever-increasing need to cater to the needs of patients through the means of solutions that are empowered with technological innovations simultaneously reducing the cost incurred on healthcare and ensuring a steady flow of data captured through the devices, which are directly available at the disposal of licensed health care practitioners for further diagnosis, thereby facilitating the transitioning of the nature of healthcare from preventive to predictive as well as reducing the traffic of patients to the health care points simultaneously providing the much sought after convenience, which patients often seek. Nevertheless, since the term IoT encompasses many components that are inclusive of but not limited to a platform, AI, the hardware component (medical electronics) among others, during recent years there have been quite few developments. 

For example, in January 2019, BIONIK Laboratories Corp. (OTCQB: BNKL) a pioneering healthcare company which engages in combining AI with groundbreaking robotics technology to assist individuals in regaining mobility from hospital to home had reportedly announced the commercial launch of its InMotion ARM/HAND™ robotic system, which is its newest generation of a system for clinical rehabilitation intended for survivors of strokes and those with mobility impairments due to neurological conditions. Later in June 2020, the same organization announced the launch of InMotion Connect™ platform which is a comprehensive platform that securely streams and stores data that are anonymized from all connected InMotion® robotics devices to BIONIK’s cloud server which is hosted by Amazon AWS, enabling the healthcare clinician and the management team with a contextually important data. Thus, enabling an ecosystem wherein more medical electronics can be incorporated.

Concerning the type of equipment, the imaging equipment segment is expected to hold a significant share of the medical instrument market.

The high prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases as well as cardiovascular, orthopedic, cancer, and another chronic disease is throttling the growth of diagnostic imaging procedures leading to a higher rate of engagement in the diagnostic equipment sector. Further many national governments are proactively investing in information campaigns as well as facilitating awareness programs alongside private players where the importance of early diagnosis is being disseminated making the general mass more familiar with the benefits of early diagnosis empowering theme to avert the incurring of unnecessary medical expenses. The aforesaid, among other favorable factors, which has been brought about by the semiconductor industry, have made the players of medical electronics revisit their strategic imperatives during recent years, which are being mentioned below to provide a panoptic view:

Products Launched

2018

June: Siemens Healthineers (FWB: SHL; ETR: SHL) has reportedly announced the launch of its new a general imaging ultrasound system, the Acuson Sequoia as a response to the challenge of imaging of patients of various sizes with clarity and consistency.

November:  Canon Medical Systems USA, Inc. launched the Alphenix platform of systems comprising namely Alphenix Biplane and Alphenix Core + systems that will allow clinicians to deliver images with clarity and precision concomitantly prioritizing low dose.

Partnership

2018

March:  A global partnership was announced Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a health technology, world leader and an innovative women's health company Hologic, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOLX), an innovative women's health company, that combines latter’s innovative mammography technologies and the former’s world-renowned portfolio of CT, MRI, ultrasound, X-ray systems advanced informatics and a broad range of services.

Acquisition

2018

June: It was announced that Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA), had signed an agreement to acquire an innovator in image-guided procedures for cardiac arrhythmias (heart rhythm disorders) called EPD Solutions.