Millennium Research Group (MRG), a market intelligence firm on medical technology, has stated that the orthopedic biomaterials market in Europe, which is highly fragmented will see stiff competition in a reduced reimbursement environment and restricted hospital budgets. Over 70 companies provide orthopedic biomaterials products in the $350 million market in Europe.
All sections of the European orthopedic biomaterials market have a large number of global and local companies competing for market share. In the year 2011, not even one competitor had over 25 % share of the European market in any specific category. Resultantly, companies have put considerable efforts into gaining or maintaining market share, including marketing efforts to enhance brand awareness among doctors and patients, conducting clinical tests to show product efficiency and safety and increasing the number of products offered so as to cater to a range of doctor preferences. Volume discounts and product bundling have been provided to appeal to cost-conscious doctors, patients and facilities.
The impact of the European debt crisis adds an extra burden on this market. The minimal reimbursement and increased limited hospital spending will maximize the downward pricing pressure that results from strong competition. Due to the cuts, a number of public hospitals across Europe will be restricting access to non-essential and elective procedures to save money, such as hyaluronic acid (HA) viscosupplementation and knee cartilage repair procedures, and eliminating the usage of high-priced products that include bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in the bone graft substitute market.
It has also been found that suppliers are becoming highly effective at focusing their sales strategies to the private healthcare market by working in close association with individual physicians, offering incentives through discounts and bundling options and working to increase awareness of the patient as well as demand.