Overview
The MedTech industry relies on well-qualified distributors help in establishing good relationships and influencing buying decisions among end users. Distributors account as a key sales channel, esp. in the emerging markets.
Figure1: MedTech Distribution Structure (1)
Channel partnership for medical technologies depends on manufacturer’s preference. Sales via distributors is common practice for most medical technology products, whereas direct sales or procurement from capital equipment manufacturing companies is preferred by the private hospitals.
Market Size & Growth Trends
According to the Evaluate MedTech consensus forecasts, the MedTech industry is expected to grow to $477.5 billion in 2020 from $375.2 billion(2) in 2014 at a CAGR of 4.1%. The MedTech …show more content…
Markets are fragmented due to peculiar nature of the medical devices distribution landscape. This is due to the need for focused and specialized expertise to distribute highly diversified medical devices in different therapeutic areas and the peculiar nature of the medical devices distribution landscape.
Medical device distribution ecosystem consists of small, provincial and family owned distributors. For example, distributors in Japan include companies like AMCO, Mizuho Medical, Nihon Kohden and Century Medical among other. Distributors in China include, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, Catalyn Medical Technologies, Cachet Pharmaceuticals, Sinopharm and King Health among others. Larger medical device distributors like Sinopharm have more in-house resources than smaller ones.(4) Medical device distributors are also bucketed in terms of the device category in the market. For example, in vitro diagnostics, endoscopy, ophthalmic, cardiology, wound management, drug delivery, orthopedics, and diagnostic