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The world’s medical products
and health market is a major consumer of polymeric materials. Annual
demand in 1990 exceeded 900,000 tonnes. United States-controlled
multinational organizations dominate the global market place with European and
Japanese companies the only other significant players (Figure
1). Not surprisingly, investment in research and development is the
highest within the major US companies although, within Europe, German companies
direct the highest percentage of sales towards research. Japanese
manufacturers supported by the Japanese Government have boosted research and
development spending by nearly 50% over the last 4 years. The provision of
health care along with defence and education represents a key investment factor
in all the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) now
spend an average of 7.5% of GDP on health compared with 7.0% in 1980.
In 1990 the global market for
medical disposables in which PVC biomaterials played an important part was just
less than 10 billion pounds sterling and this is expected to increase in value
by 30% within 6 years.
MEDICAL DISPOSABLES MARKET SIZE AND COMPOSITION
The present world demand for PVC
medical compounds is between 180,000-220,000 tonnes. The major
manufacturing centers are Western Europe, USA and Japan who consume around
150,000 tonnes in the production of mainly single use presterilised medical
devices.
(Figure
2a) represents a picture of the global breakdown by device type of the major
categories of medical and surgical disposables. The disposables market may
be taken to consist of the following broad product categories:
-
catheters and cannulae
-
dialysers
-
surgical and examination gloves
-
sutures
-
syringes and needles
-
non-woven items and textiles
-
wound dressings
-
transfusion supplies
-
incontinence and ostomy products
The disposables market as defined
in the broad terms above is vast. Global sales were estimated as exceeding
9.65 billion pounds sterling in 1990 and are set to increase to 13.5 billion
pounds sterling by 1995 (Figure 2b).
Wound care items are the largest segment although those product sectors where
the use of PVC is a predominant raw material e.g. catheters and cannulae,
dialysers, needle hubs, transfusion supplies and incontinence and ostomy
products, represent a present market worth greater than 5.5 billion pounds
sterling. Closer to home, the Western European market for medical and
surgical disposables which accounts for some 32% of world demand is predicted to
continue its annual growth rate of 10% to reach a value of 4.0 billion pounds
sterling by 1995. Within the EEC the seven major national markets of
Germany, France, Italy, UK, Spain, Netherlands and Belgium, together account for
over 85% of all West European sales.
PVC BIOMATERIALS
The
present annual demand for PVC in Western Europe is approximately 5.1 million
tones. In 1990, world capacities
exceeded 20 million tones. Currently some 47,000 tonnes of PVC is consumed in the
manufacture of medical devices in Western Europe and therefore represents
slightly less than 1% of total demand. Bearing
in mind that this figure represents PVC used directly in close contact with
patients we may regard it as the most widely used biomaterial for single use
presterilised medical devices (Figure
3). The undoubted success of PVC compound in this arena during
the last 40 years has demonstrated their great ability to satisfy the demanding
requirements of the medical health care industry. Historically PVC was introduced into flexible tubings and
containers as replacement for glass and nutural rubber and began to dominate the
market with the development of single use applications.
It is not, however, normal practice to use PVC in orthopaedic devices
where extended period of body contact is encountered.
The major factors, which continue to favour its use, are :
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