Opportunity Abounds for New Entrants in Infusion Pump Market

Aging world populations, expanding global markets, and new product innovations have driven the worldwide market for infusion pumps at an average annual growth rate of 3.6%. These are the latest findings of Kalorama Information (New York, NY, USA), an independent medical market research firm.

Infusion pumps, which are used to introduce fluids, medications, and nutrients to the patient’s circulatory system, are classified into two general types: traditional infusion pumps and specialty pumps. Both are often used in situations where continuous monitoring and treatment by a nurse or other health staff would be expensive, impractical, or unreliable.

Traditional infusion pumps are used in a variety of applications and settings from basic fluids for hydration to pain medications and antibiotics in hospitals, long-term care settings, physician’s offices, and home settings. Products in the traditional segment include large volume infusion pumps, ambulatory infusion pumps, chemotherapy pumps, disposable pumps, and syringe infusion pumps.

Specialty medical infusion pumps are typically designed to accommodate a particular type of fluid or medication. Many of these pumps are used in home settings and are designed to meet the needs of active patients, such as with diabetes patients. Products in the specialty medical infusion pump segment include enteral feeding pumps, insulin infusion pumps, and implantable infusion pumps.

More than 100 companies participate in the infusion pump market, including well-known companies such as Abbott, Medtronic, Fresenius (Bad Homburg, Germany), CareFusion (San Diego, CA, USA), Johnson & Johnson (Animas) and Baxter. However, there are also a number of smaller companies that specialize in certain areas, such as Insulet, whose OmniPod delivers insulin without tubing, IRadimed, which manufactures MRI safe pumps from, and Moog (East Aurora, NY, USA), which provides I-Flow home care and enteral feeding pumps.

“It's possible for these innovative small players to cede general market leadership to the big players and still participate with intense market efforts in a narrow segment,” said Melissa Elder, Kalorama analyst and author of the report. “This is a growing market and new entrants and innovators should be expected as disease incidence unfortunately grows.”

Kalorama Information predict that the worldwide market for infusion and medical pumps will show continued growth till the end of 2012, increasing to USD 6.7 billion, and is expected to grow even further with increased demand and new emerging markets spending on healthcare.

Related Links:
Kalorama Information
Fresenius
CareFusion