Philips Expands Home Healthcare Solutions Business With New Acquisitions

Royal Philips Electronics (Philips, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) has expanded its Home Healthcare Solutions business, marking its growing industrial and commercial presence in high-growth healthcare markets in emerging economies.

Philips announced it has acquired the aerosol therapy business of Medel (Parma, Italy), known for the innovative design and manufacturing capabilities of miniature battery powered portable devices. The acquired businesses of Medel include the aerosol therapy business of Medel in Italy, the nebulizer compressor far Eastern manufacturing and logistics operations partner Melhk (Hong Kong, China), and its subsidiary Melmedical (China). In a related transaction, Philips also acquired a manufacturing facility in Guandong (China) for nebulizer compressor systems. The acquisitions have become part of the Respiratory Drug Delivery (RDD) business unit within Philips Home Healthcare Solutions. The purchase consolidates the position of the Philips Respironics division in the market with its MiniElite and MicroElite portable nebulizer compressors. Financial details were not disclosed.

"When Philips acquired Respironics, the company also had a leading respiratory drug delivery business,” said Don Spence, CEO of Philips Home Healthcare Solutions. "Building upon that strength and fulfilling on our ambition to expand our high-growth compressor nebulizer systems franchise, we decided to acquire the aerosol therapy business of Medel which allows us to better serve the needs of our customers and their patients who suffer from asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis and other respiratory disorders.”

The addition of the Guangdong facility means another significant expansion of Philips Healthcare's industrial footprint in China, following the acquisition of China's second-largest patient monitoring company, Shenzhen Goldway Industrial in April 2008.

The demand for compact, lightweight, portable nebulizers is being driven by the active lifestyles of children with asthma and seniors with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Analysts estimate the global pulmonary drug delivery technologies market to grow between 7% and 9% in the coming period.

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