The global NPWT devices market is a consolidated market where the top four market players occupy about 50% market share. These players are vigorously targeting each other’s products and undertaking several strategic initiatives in order to capture market share.

The following is a snapshot of strategies undertaken by the market players:

Geographic Expansion - They are entering new regional markets through acquisitions, increased product registrations, tailored portfolio development, post-acute and community reimbursement initiatives and expansion of commercial channels

Strategic Acquisitions - They intend to augment growth by identifying, acquiring and integrating businesses, technologies and products that enhance product portfolio, while diversifying customer base. Competitors also seek strategic alliances, which will allow to pursue new opportunities with greater flexibility and lower capital commitments.

Focused Innovation - They are focused on building product portfolio and innovative pipeline including several new product offerings and line extensions. In addition, they are implementing focused global research and development, and marketing functions so as to develop and commercialize products and solutions well-tailored to the needs of customers and care settings across different geographies.

However, as the players also desire to lower costs and increase efficiency of NPWT, it gives rise to several market movements; for example, healthcare providers increasingly seeking to treat patients in outpatient or community settings; the increasing use of digital technologies to ensure that care is as efficient and effective as possible; the acceptance of ‘good enough’ products in some circumstances; and the sector is increasingly seeing efforts to cooperate across the value chain. As an example, the UK National Health Service (NHS) is automating data exchange between its institutions and suppliers and has mandated all suppliers to provide pricing information through the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) by October 2018 (NHS, Feb 2016).

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT) now lists wounds as a category. The Medicare cost estimates for acute and chronic wound treatments ranges from USD 28.1 billion to USD 96.8 billion, with a higher trend towards costs associated with outpatient wound care compared with inpatient.

Global Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Market Segmentation

The global negative pressure wound therapy market has been segmented based on products, wound type and end user. Based on wound type, the market is categorized into surgical and traumatic wounds, ulcers and burns. Surgical and traumatic wounds was the largest segment in 2018 and is expected to retain its dominance through 2025; moreover, ulcers are projected to grow at a highest CAGR of 5.3%. Ulcers have been further split into diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and venous ulcers, with venous ulcers dominating the negative pressure wound therapy market in 2018 with 42.6% market share.

A vast majority of lower-extremity ulcers are caused by chronic venous insufficiency. In the U.S. and Europe, people >65 years of age are vulnerable to venous ulcers. In the U.S, 10% to 35% of the population suffers from some kind of chronic venous issue, with 4% (>65 age group) of the cases having active ulcers. In the United States and the United Kingdom, venous leg ulcers cost around USD 2.5 billion, and EUR 300 to EUR 600 million, respectively. The annual expenditure to treat a venous ulcer is estimated at USD 10,563. For chronic, non-healing venous ulcers, the treatment expenditure is estimated to be around USD 34,000 or higher. Chronic venous ulcers’ burden on economic productivity by resulting in the loss of 4.6 million work days per year.

Based on estimates originating from independent sources, it is clear that the magnitude of wounds as a healthcare problem is sharply rising. Resources allocated to the education, care, and research of wounds continues to be disproportionately low and deserves strategic attention.

North America was the market leader of negative pressure wound therapy in 2018, occupying over 45% market share, followed by Europe. However, emerging economies are set to grow at the fastest pace in the forecast period. KCI, a 3M company gains 65% of its revenue share from the U.S, whereas Smith & Nephew dominates the European market.

In the United States, 3% of the population >65 years of age have open wounds. By 2020, the US government estimates that the elderly population will be over 55 million, suggesting that chronic wounds will continue to be an increasingly persistent problem in this population. Overall, in the United States 2% of the total population are estimated to be affected by chronic wounds. The impact of chronic wounds is also adverse worldwide. For example, a 2016 report from Wales estimated a 6% prevalence of chronic wounds with a 5.5% cost to the National Health Service (NHS). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study indicating that more than 100 million adults are living with diabetes or prediabetes in the United States. As of 2015, 30.3 million Americans (9.4% of the U.S. population) live with diabetes; besides, 84.1 million have prediabetes, which if left untreated, often leads to type 2 diabetes (T2D) within 5 years.