The Strongly Growing Chinese Heart Valve Market Has A Number Of Distinct Features That Will Challenge Competitors

TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, the Chinese heart valve market is underpenetrated and will grow rapidly in the next decade. But this particular market differs in significant ways from mature markets, and the differences need to be taken into account by competitors seeking to gain or maintain a market position in China.

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The heart valve market is showing strong procedure growth. MRG sees approximately 16,500 surgical heart valve procedures per quarter, but anticipates acceleration in the second half of the year, leading to an annual total of 70,000 procedures. By comparison, the number in the United States was just over 100,000 in 2012, for a population under one quarter China's.

The Chinese market still favors mechanical heart valves, which are relatively less frequent in mature markets. A still-high incidence of rheumatic fever causes valve damage early in life, particularly to the mitral valve. Mechanical heart valves, despite drawbacks such as higher cost and more complicated procedures, are favored for situations where durability is a key consideration. Despite the growth in the number of older patients, for whom tissue heart valves are a better choice, MRG expects mechanical valves to remain the largest segment for the next five years. In China, 61 percent of all heart valves are mechanical, while in the US mechanical valves represent only 21 percent of the surgical valve market.

"Another significant difference between procedures in China as opposed to mature markets is valve position," said MRG Project Analyst Thomas Lee. "While 70 percent of procedures are for the aortic valve in the US, in China that number is only 40 percent. The high rates of mitral valve damage make those procedures considerably more common in China than elsewhere."

The Chinese heart valve market has still not seen China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) approval for minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valves (TAVR or TAVI), which is seeing major uptake in mature markets. But it is anticipated that Edwards will gain approval for its Sapien XT valve later this year. If results are similar to those in other markets, the device will be used initially to grow the treatable patient population, but will eventually erode some of the surgical heart valve market. .

These results can be found in a new tracking study from MRG:  China Heart Valves Marketrack.  This study fields quarterly to 80 hospitals across 25 provinces, and tracks procedure growth, device market size, price per device and brand usage on a quarterly basis.

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 loyalty tracking, facility-level procedure forecasting, and customized solutions.

About Decision Resources, Inc.
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SOURCE Millennium Research Group