Newcomer US to Dominate Global Transcatheter Heart Valve Market by 2017

Tuesday 11 June 2013, Amsterdam

Despite only entering the market in late 2011 with Edwards Lifesciences’ Sapien, the US looks set to dominate the global Transcatheter Heart Valve (THV) market in the near future, according to business intelligence provider GBI Research.

The firm’s latest report forecasts the number of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedures in the US to climb from 7,946 in 2012 to 59,000 in 2017, driving the country’s THV market from $238m to $1.9 billion during the same period.

We states that, within one year, the US has managed to become the biggest country for THV sales, accounting for 28% of the global market in 2012 – 4% more than second-placed Germany. But while the initial FDA approval of Sapien only covered use on inoperable patients, the barrier was lowered last year to include those classified as high-risk. This larger patient pool, says the report, will lead to the US claiming a massive 61% of worldwide THV revenue in 2017.

Further FDA approvals for Medtronic’s CoreValve, Edwards’ Sapien XT valve and Direct Flow Medical’s transcatheter aortic valve system are anticipated in the next few years and are expected to lead to a decline in prices, further driving the rapid adoption rate of TAVRs.

In Europe, the number of THV procedures performed more than quadrupled between 2009 and 2012, increasing from 5,000 to an estimated 25,000. Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy accounted for more than 80%, with Germany alone making up more than 40% of all procedures carried out across the region over four years.

The approval of second-generation prosthetics and expanded approval for the use of TAVR in low to moderate-risk patients will maintain impressive growth rates in the near future.