Originally Published MDDI December 2004

Medtech Snapshot

Focus on Technology

Providing Improved Utility at Reduced Costs

The industry produced many examples of new devices that offer both improved clinical utility and reduced overall costs to the healthcare system, says financial management firm Merrill Lynch. Several major markets and technologies drove industry growth in 2004. Analysts singled out coronary stents as one of the most significant technologies of the year.

A number of studies showed that drug-eluting stents may be beneficial to certain high-risk patients, and these findings could expand the market for the blockbuster technology. According to securities firm J.P. Morgan, the advent of drug-eluting stents could double the $4.3 billion interventional cardiology market within the next few years.

Implantable defibrillators was another significant technology this year. The graphs on this and the following pages provide a more-detailed look at the shape of these two markets.

A graph on page 60 also provides a snapshot of diagnostic imaging, the industry's most costly technology.

Copyright ©2005 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry