A survey conducted by Austin, Texas-based Emergo Group, in cooperation with BSI, has indicated that 72% of companies expect their medical device sales to increase in 2010.

More than 70% of respondents to the survey were generally optimistic about the overall prospects for the device industry in 2010, compared to 56% last year. As per the findings, based on a survey of 1,000+ professionals, domestic sales for medical device and IVD related companies remain solid. More than 60% of the respondents were based in North America, specifically the US. Overall, companies have seen positive growth from international markets during the previous three months.

Only 39% of companies with more than 1,000 employees expect their companies to have more employees one year from now compared to about 55% for smaller companies with fewer than 100 employees.

International sales

An analysis of the results shows that companies from Asia are seeing especially strong growth in international sales. European companies, despite their domestic woes, seem to have been more successful at increasing their international sales. Australia/New Zealand based companies have seen an especially large increase in 2009.

Nearly 64% of companies that export said they plan to enter at least one new international market in 2010. Many companies are showing strong interest in emerging markets such as Brazil, China, India and Mexico. Naturally, established markets such as the US, Europe and Japan continue to dominate. However, per capita health care expenditures in many emerging markets are increasing and as the regulatory framework in these markets advances and becomes more widely understood, medical device manufacturers will continue to look to these secondary markets to supplant their existing domestic and international sales.

Positive outlook

Despite an uncertain global economy, the medical device industry remains very optimistic about prospects for 2010. Per capita healthcare expenditures continue to rise and industry seems to think this will benefit their company throughout 2010 with 7 out of every 10 people expecting sales to increase next year. Companies are even more bullish going into 2010 than they were going into 2009 just one year ago. At the time, credit markets were frozen and the international economy was in the midst of an upheaval.

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