Opportunity in European embolization coil market leads to major acquisitions in 2010: MRG

According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, high market opportunity in the European embolization coil market has led to several major acquisitions in 2010.  The European market alone was valued at approximately $100 million in 2009, making successful niche competitors in this market attractive acquisition targets.  

Although novel devices in the embolization coil market have shown promise, adoption of these devices is highly dependent on clinical trial results and regulatory approvals. In order to succeed, companies need to collect favorable clinical data supporting the efficacy of their devices. Gathering these results can be difficult for smaller companies that do not have the funding or resources to conduct large-scale clinical trials. For these competitors, it is often beneficial to develop relationships with larger companies in the form of partnerships or acquisitions. It is also beneficial for the acquiring company, which can leverage vast sales and marketing resources to sell innovative new products.

"Because physicians are increasingly favoring advanced technologies that offer improvements over older-generation devices, the ability to engage in product development represents another important competitive advantage," says James Kurz, Analyst at MRG. "As a result, companies will need to heavily invest in research and development and/or acquire smaller companies with innovative technologies. ev3's purchase of Chestnut Medical Technologies in mid 2009 and Johnson & Johnson's announcements to acquire Micrus Endovascular in July 2010 are two examples of this. Through these moves, ev3 added the Pipeline Embolization Device, a flow-diverting device developed by Chestnut Medical that competes with coiling procedures, and Johnson & Johnson added Micrus Endovascular's highly regarded line of neurovascular coils. Furthermore, ev3's subsequent acquisition by Covidien provides an example of a large competitor seeking to add innovative products and take advantage of their sales and marketing networks."

MRG's European Markets for Transcatheter Embolization and Occlusion Devices 2010 report provides critical insight into trends that will fuel market growth for embolization coils, coiling-assist devices, embolization particles, liquid embolics, flow diverters, vascular plugs, and transcatheter embolization and occlusion accessory devices through 2014.