A recent study from Frost & Sullivan predicts that the global wound care market will increase from its current value of $8.73 billion to $11.13 billion in 2017.
The global consulting firm suggests that the market is poised for growth because of the rising global population and subsequent increase in lifestyle diseases that, with them, carry an increased risk of chronic wounds. It also says there is a higher buying power in the market and a rise in the number of private firms that provide healthcare services alongside their public counterparts. Parthasarathy Raghava, senior healthcare research analyst for Frost & Sullivan, commented that practitioners are continually looking for advanced products that will improve health outcomes for their patients.
“Better awareness among physicians and doctors on the benefits of advanced wound care products that enable faster healing than traditional methods is aiding market expansion,” Raghava said. “Long hospital stay times and increased bed occupancy are viewed as a bigger burden for hospitals than investment in advanced wound care treatment.”
There is one overarching element to the market, however, that keeps growth modest: cost. In that never-ending battle, physicians always look to the cost of products and weigh that against patient needs. Wound care can operate at a reasonable level of effectiveness with traditional wound dressings, for instance, rather than those made with advanced materials. This is where reimbursement from insurance companies can come heavily into play. With greater reimbursement for material costs, hospitals can trust that their investments in better products will be worthwhile.
With complacency in technology that is good enough, suppliers are left in a bind. Raghava says wound dressing manufacturers and suppliers must work with public hospitals to take advantage of their buying power. Smaller enterprises often are not able to purchase products in extremely large quantities to achieve lower per-unit costs. As a result, smaller enterprises cannot begin to urge manufacturers to create more advanced products; larger entities, though, have that ability. Smaller players may add to the overall buying power of the market, but the most prominent entities have weight to throw around.
“The biggest opportunity for wound care manufacturers and suppliers will emerge from the public healthcare sector and hence, they must work closely with the government to determine and forecast demand in this sector,” Raghava continued.
One supplier of advanced wound dressing products, Medline, displayed its newest products at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care this month. These products include wound dressings made with silver, a hospital-wide toolkit for managing moisture and skin damage, wound coverings, and dressings made with collagen. Advanced products boast faster healing times, fewer rejections from human tissue, increased absorbency of fluids, and moisturizing capabilities.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
