Global economic downturn forces more vendors to engage in price undercutting and volume discounts, according to Millennium Research Group

July 9, 2009—Waltham, Massachusetts— According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, the ongoing economic crisis is putting pressure on publicly-funded health care systems across Europe, intensifying the decline of interventional cardiology (IC) device prices in the region. MRG’s European Markets for Interventional Cardiology Devices 2009 (Part II) report details the extent to which competitive pricing and discounts among IC device vendors is resulting in price erosion in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Spain, and Switzerland.

IC device vendors are engaging in price undercutting and offering high-volume discounts or bundling deals with other products in their portfolios in order to encourage sales, resulting in price erosion. The health care systems in the Netherlands and Switzerland (beginning in 2012) provide only general funding for IC procedures, despite the varying cost of devices used. In order to operate within set budgets, European health care facilities must often choose lower-cost devices. Contract tenders between sellers and group purchasing organizations will further add to price erosion. In exchange for high-volume sales of their products, manufacturers offer significant discounts. This method of business is becoming more common across Europe, particularly in the Nordic countries and Spain.

“The global economic recession has certainly intensified the extent of price erosion for IC devices across Europe,” says Stephanie LaBelle, Senior Analyst at MRG. “Institutions operating within the public health care systems of these European countries are choosing lower-priced devices to meet budgetary constraints.”
 
MRG’s new report, European Markets for Interventional Cardiology Devices 2009 (Part II) provides important insight into the reasons behind and extent of the changes in IC device pricing. Additionally, the report provides full breakdowns of IC procedures by type and device unit sales by subtype, including five-year forecasts, up-to-date market shares, and in-depth qualitative insights.