The U.S. Bariatric Market Will Generate Over $1 Billion in revenues by 2011, According to a New Report from Millennium Research Group

October 23, 2006— Waltham, Massachusetts — Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, has conducted a detailed and thorough analysis of the US bariatric equipment and devices market. The report finds that rising rates of morbid obesity in the US are obliging hospitals to accommodate extremely overweight individuals for bariatric surgery as well as for other procedures and tests. According to the new report entitled US Markets for Bariatric Equipment and Devices 2007, the US bariatric market will generate over $1 billion in annual revenues by 2011.

“Bariatric equipment such as wheelchairs, beds, scales, and longer-length devices are often required when surgery or other procedures are performed on very obese individuals,” said Lexie Code, Senior Analyst at MRG. “For example, when laparoscopic surgery is performed on morbidly obese patients, the distance between skin-level incisions where specialized devices enter the body and the internal organs is much longer. Hospitals must therefore purchase more expensive, longer-length devices to accommodate such procedures.”

In 2006, obesity levels in the US were notably high: 3.9% of the US population is considered morbidly obese, a much higher rate than in other geographic regions such as Europe. The US obesity rate represents a population of over 11 million people, a volume that will increase by approximately 3.0% per year over the forecast period. As a result, by 2011, over 13 million Americans will be morbidly obese. It is increasingly common for severely obese individuals to require treatment for various obesity-related conditions.

MRG’s US Markets for Bariatric Equipment and Devices 2007 report includes coverage of all key industry competitors including US Surgical (TYC), KCI (KCI), Ethicon (JNJ), Skytron, Hill-Rom (HB), Burke, Stryker Corp. (SYK), Valleylab (TYC), Arjo, Karl Storz Endoscopy, Applied Medical, Gyrus Medical, Inamed Health (AGN), BHM Medical, Invacare (IVC), Liko, and Medline Industries Inc.

About Morbid Obesity and Bariatric Surgery
Obesity is defined as being excessively overweight or having a disproportionate accumulation of fat, while morbid obesity specifically refers to individuals that are 100 or more pounds overweight. Bariatric surgery is performed for the purpose of inducing weight loss. Surgical methods include the reduction of stomach, and occasionally intestinal, capacity. Devices such as the LapBand by Inamed can also be implanted; these devices aid in limiting the volume of food that can be ingested.