C.R. Bard Overtakes Ethicon as the Leading Player in the $1 Billion Soft Tissue Repair Market

WALTHAM, Mass., May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, the $1 billion US soft tissue device market will expand at an annual growth rate of over 7% through 2014. C.R. Bard is poised to benefit from this growth, as it recently overtook Ethicon as the leader of this lucrative market. In the coming years, market growth will be driven by the adoption of innovative, premium-priced devices such as biologic hernia mesh for ventral hernia repair and fixationless slings for urinary incontinence.

In the vaginal sling segment, negative results for Ethicon's TVT SECUR System led to several lawsuits against the company and lingering concerns about single-incision slings. As a result of these factors, Ethicon lost a considerable share of the market in 2009 compared to previous years.  That same year, C.R. Bard launched a new product in the US vaginal sling market, the Ajust Adjustable Single-Incision Sling. Launched a year earlier in Europe, this device has experienced significant success in the European market. Other competitors are also benefiting from the adoption of premium-priced devices. Fixationless slings -- such as American Medical Systems' MiniArc Single-Incision Sling -- will be increasingly adopted at the expense of traditional slings because the former device  is less invasive, easier for physicians to implant, associated with fewer complications, and allows patients to recover more quickly.

"Innovative products are also fueling revenues in other segments of the US soft tissue device market. In the biologic ventral hernia mesh market, large competitors, including Covidien and LifeCell, will aggressively market their products to increase awareness of biologic products and to boost physician confidence in their use," says Tiffanie Demone, Senior Analyst at MRG.   "A mesh's ability to be used in a contaminated or infected site is one of the most important factors considered by surgeons when choosing a type of repair mesh. As more clinical data emerge to support the claim that biologic meshes enable revascularization, which contributes to the resistance to infection, demand for biologic meshes will rise."

MRG's US Markets for Soft Tissue Repair Devices 2010 report provides critical insight into emerging trends that will fuel market growth in the soft tissue repair device market, including the increasing adoption of biologic mesh for ventral hernia repair, fixationless slings for urinary incontinence, pelvic floor reconstruction kits for pelvic organ prolapse, and proprietary mesh for inguinal hernia repair. The report also discusses trends for dural repair devices, as well as rotator cuff reinforcement grafts.

About Millennium Research Group

Millennium Research Group (www.MRG.net), a Decision Resources, Inc. company (www.DecisionResourcesInc.com), is the global authority on medical technology market intelligence and the leading provider of strategic information to the healthcare sector. The company provides specialized industry expertise through multiclient market research, ongoing Marketrack™ projects, customer behavior tracking, facility-level procedure forecasting, and customized solutions.

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SOURCE Millennium Research Group