Opportunities and Scope for the European IV Therapy and Enteral Nutrition Device Markets

Research Overview

This Frost & Sullivan research service entitled Opportunities and Scope for the European IV Therapy and Enteral Nutrition Device Markets provides a detailed analysis of these market including the major challenges they face, their key drivers and restraints, and the geographic trends that are influencing their growth in Europe. The research service also provides strategic recommendations to market participants.

Market Sectors

Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research:

• IV therapy devices
• Enteral nutrition devices

Technologies

The following technology is covered in this research:

• Enteral Nutrition: This refers to the process of administering nutrition into the stomach or small intestine through feeding tubes. This route is used for many chronic relapsing diseases when the gut is not completely functional.

Market Overview

Intravenous Therapy and Enteral Nutrition Device Markets See High Growth Rates

Compared to the moderate growth experienced as recently as two years ago, the European intravenous (IV) therapy and enteral nutrition device markets are now expanding rapidly, and are expected to do so for the next four years. Some key factors driving the IV therapy device market include a substantial rise in the incidence of related diseases and a growing aging population susceptible to numerous diseases. IV therapy is also being increasingly administered at home for patients who do not need to be admitted in hospital. This represents a potentially lucrative market, especially since hospitals are focussing on regulations on downsizing and reducing the duration of patient stays.

However, a major challenge facing the European IV therapy device market is the lack of reimbursement for these devices, notably in some countries such as Germany. While ambulatory infusion devices are eligible for complete reimbursement by the national healthcare services of all European countries, this poses a problem as patients need to bear their own expenses, for which they tend to hesitate. This could lead to initial diagnoses being overlooked and eventually culminate in more severe problems along with higher expenditure at a later date. "Reimbursement is also a significant problem for enteral nutrition devices," adds the analyst of this research service. "Post the introduction of diagnosis-related group (DRG) systems in some European healthcare systems, many procedures fall into codes that do not suitably reflect cost, leading to inadequate reimbursement."

Enteral Nutrition Devices Market Driven by Increasing Incidence of Diseases

Gastro-intestinal diseases and others such as cancer, cardiac disorders and diabetes are on the rise in many western European countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. Sedentary lifestyles have led to obesity in approximately 130 million people in Europe, making them vulnerable to various related diseases, while the Malnutrition Advisory Group reveals that up to 60.0 per cent of hospital patients in the United Kingdom. are malnourished. In addition, up to 50.0 per cent of patients in care or residential homes are either under-nourished or at considerable risk for malnutrition.

"While these figures are alarming to say the least, they are set to drive significant demand for enteral nutrition devices as these patients would require feeding through the gut," says the analyst. "Again, strong opportunities exist in the expanding homecare segment and the challenge for manufacturers is to find ways to tap this potential." Hospitals are facing rising cost containment pressures, while insurance companies are also limiting their payments. Thus, the increased emphasis placed on the homecare segment augurs well for enteral devices, since most of them can easily be utilised at home with minimum supervision.