Strongest Growth to be in the Direct Energy and Single-Port Device Segments, According to Millennium Research Group

January 11, 2012—Toronto—According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, competitors in the United States laparoscopic device market will be paying particular attention to the direct energy and single-port device segments as other segments witness increased commoditization and slowing growth. While the overall laparoscopic device market is expected to show moderate growth of around three percent per year, the advanced direct energy segment will grow by nine percent in 2012, while single-port devices will see growth of over 22 percent.

The advanced direct energy device segment will show particularly high growth, as new and innovative products are introduced and these devices are applied in a broader array of laparoscopic procedures. A number of companies have made acquisitions in efforts to establish or expand their presence in this market, and current competitors are diversifying their offerings with product lines outside their traditional areas. For example, Ethicon Endo-Surgery recently received 510(k) clearance for its latest ENSEAL product, an advanced bipolar device, which will expand its presence in a segment traditionally dominated by Covidien’s Ligasure family of products. Ethicon has also established itself in the reprocessed direct energy device segment through its acquisition of reprocessed device vendor SterilMed.

Meanwhile, Covidien is attempting to make inroads into the advanced ultrasonic energy device market previously dominated by Ethicon, with the introduction of its new Sonicsicion device.

While the anticipated growth of over 22 percent per year in the single-port device market is high, it is nowhere near as high as the growth of a year or two ago, when annual growth averaged over 70 percent. Although that growth had been expected to continue, growth rates instead will continue to drop as physicians increasingly realize that the benefits of single-port surgery can only be realized in a handful of procedures. Single-port surgery has not yet proven to have definite benefits over traditional laparoscopy for complicated surgery types.

“Single-port procedure volumes will be driven by high-volume basic surgeries such as cholecystomies,” said MRG Analyst Sohaib Perwaiz. “This will also allow associated devices, namely single-port access devices and articulating hand instruments, to show growth. Covidien has a strong position in the single-port access device market, but smaller competitors, particularly Applied Medical, have been able to expand market share in recent years. Cambridge Endo and Transenterix have established a presence in the niche articulating hand instrument market.”

Millennium Research Group’s US Markets for Laparoscopic Devices 2012 report includes procedure, unit, average selling price and revenue information, along with market drivers and limiters and competitive landscape for internal closure devices, direct energy devices, access devices, hand instruments, gastric bands, suction/irrigation devices, insufflation devices, laparoscopes and hand-assist devices in the United States.