Boston Scientific's Eluvia drug-eluting vascular stent system. Image courtesy of Boston Scientific.
July 31, 2015 — According to a new report on the Europe market for interventional cardiology by iData Research, drug-eluting stents accounted for a significant portion of the European markets for interventional cardiology devices in 2014. The advent of drug-eluting stents has driven the interventional cardiology market beyond expectations, as these devices have managed to increase the size of the market by virtue of their relatively high average selling price (ASP). New developments in drug-eluting stents such as biodegradable materials are expected to keep the market competitive despite safety concerns regarding late stent thrombosis.
In 2014, the European markets for interventional cardiology were valued at nearly EUR 1.3 billion, a nearly 10 percent decrease from the previous year. The total European market for interventional cardiology devices is projected to decline as a result of continued decrease in average selling prices due to:
The competitive tender systems being adopted across Europe;
Low procedure numbers; and
A decrease in devices used per procedure due to improvements in medical devices and cardiologist best practices.
"Unit sales growth is expected to be driven by a new generation of drug-eluting stents, which are expected to alleviate physician concerns over thrombosis issues, as well as decreased ASPs which may trigger physicians to stent more," explained Kamran Zamanian, Ph.D., CEO of iData.
The negative growth experienced throughout many countries over 2011 and 2012 was due primarily to turbulent macroeconomic conditions throughout the European region. The United Kingdom showed the largest decline due to the entrance of substantially lower priced products being brought into the country from Germany. Benelux and Spain are also expected to see large market declines due to prevalent price erosion and the lackluster unit sales growth in their respective markets. Spending cuts throughout many countries and uncertainty regarding default were major contributors to the stifling of growth of many markets. Austria is expected to be the only country to experience growth due to its premium pricing system modeled after the Swiss market and its proximity to the leading German market.
Abbott Laboratories has been the leading competitor in the drug-eluting stent (DES) market with more than 30 percent market share. Their actual selling price for DES has been quite low due to competition with Boston Scientific. Other competitors include Medtronic, Biotronik, B. Braun, Biosensors International, Cornova and Disa Vascular, among others.
For more information: www.idataresearch.com
December 20, 2023 
