MEDICAL GRADE HYDROGEL MARKET ANALYSIS

Hydrogel are hydrophilic, three dimensional, and cross-linked polymer chain, which has property to absorb different fluids. They resemble body tissue with respect to their ability to absorb large amount of water. The property to absorb different types of the fluid makes hydrogel suitable for many medical applications. As human body consist of large amount of water, therefore hydrogels are highly biocompatible and can be used as carrier for many active ingredients. Being biodegradable, hydrogels are harmless as compared to other polymers. Hydrogels such as polysaccharides and polypeptides are of natural origin, whereas artificial hydrogels include N-isopropyl acrylamide and Jeffamine M-1000 acrylamide. Artificial hydrogels carries superior mechanical strength, longer shelf life, and larger capacity to absorb water. This hydrogels are based on the type of material from which they originate, shows varying response to pH, temperature, light, and different chemicals. The pH responsive hydrogels possess chemical/physical properties at specific pH. Gastric targeted drug such as small intestine, stomach, and colon targeted drug delivery system has been under development specifically for chronic conditions such as colon and stomach cancer. Cell modelling is conducted to mimic GI tract cell, based on pH characteristics. Light responsive hydrogels can be used in gene delivery, drug delivery, and biomedical sensors.

Market Dynamics

Medical grade hydrogel is gaining significant traction as the novel carrier, which can be used in various products targeted for different indications. Currently medical grade hydrogel has major application in wound dressings, plastic surgery, cosmetics, orthopedics, and immunotherapy. Increasing research on utility and capability of medical grade hydrogel is expected to propel growth of the medical grade hydrogel market. Hydrogels is currently widely used as material for plastic and reconstructive surgery. Therefore, increasing number of reconstructive surgery is expected to drive growth of market. Extensive research is being conducted on hydrogels for their application in novel drug delivery systems such as controlled release delivery and sustained release delivery to improve the prospect of hydrogels as novel excipient and carrier. Moreover, high prevalence of chronic disease such as cancer is propelling growth of the market. For instance, according to the data published by International Journal of Pharma Sciences and Research (IJPSR), around 9 million deaths occurred due to cancer in 2015, and around 11.4 million people are estimated to die due to cancer by 2030. Such high number of deaths is propelling demand for development of novel molecule with effective targeting of drug towards diseased organ, which can be achieved with hydrogel due to its extracellular characteristics, which would also decrease side effects associated to anti-cancer drugs. Hydrogel act as an effective carrier in skin cancer. Hydrogel such as hyaluronic acid is used as tissue filler for plastic reconstruction surgery such as breast reconstruction. This surgery is conducted if breast cancer treatment compels to remove affected tissue mass. Increasing adoption of immunotherapy to treat various disease such as asthma and Crohn’s disease are expected to fuel growth of the medical grade hydrogel market. A nanovector composed of peptide-based nanofibrous hydrogel can condense DNA to result in strong immune responses against disease such as HIV. HIV is one of the major cause of deaths globally. According to UNAIDS factsheet, in 2016, around 36.7 million were suffering from HIV worldwide. Hydrogels are majorly used in proteomics and electrophoresis as replacement to other types of polymers. Smart hydrogels and tissue engineering are future research areas for hydrogel, which would aid in medical application and drive growth for medical grade hydrogel market.

Regional Insights

On the basis of Geography, the global medical grade hydrogel market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to lead the medical grade hydrogel market during forecast period, owing to high number of plastic and reconstructive surgeries that are performed annually in which hydrogels based material is extensively used. According to report published by American Society of Plastic Surgeons 2017, around 290,467 breast augmentation surgeries were performed in 2016, which increased to 300,378 in 2017. High prevalence of the chronic disease such as cancer and cardiovascular disease and extensive research and development by pharmaceutical and biotech companies for development of innovative products are driving market growth. According to the estimation of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), in 2017, pharmaceutical industry invested around US$ 0.8 billion to US$ 1.7 billion per company on research and development activities. Europe is projected to witness significant growth in the medical grade hydrogel market.

Competitive Landscape

Key players operating in the medical grade hydrogel market include 3M, ConvaTec, Integra Lifescience Holdings Corporation, Smith & Nephew plc, United Axelgaard, Coloplast, Paul Hartmann, Medtronic plc, and Ocular Therapeutix.

Companies are launching novel products in order to gain larger market share and establish dominance over other competitors. For instance, Integra LifeSciences launched hydrogel-based product named Revize/Revize-X Collagen Matrix for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in October 2017.

Market Taxonomy

On the basis of origin, the global medical grade hydrogel market is segmented into:

• Natural Hydrogels
• Synthetic Hydrogels

On the basis of crosslinking method, the global medical grade hydrogel market is segmented into:

• Physically cross linked hydrogels
• Chemically cross linked hydrogels

On the basis of sensitivity, the medical grade hydrogel market is segmented into:

• pH sensitive hydrogels
• Temperature sensitive hydrogels
• Chemical sensitive hydrogels
• Lights sensitive hydrogels
• Others

On the basis of applications, the medical grade hydrogel market is segmented into

• Topical applications
• Drug delivery systems
• Dental applications
• Implants
• Injectable
• Ophthalmic
• Others

On the basis of geography, the medical grade hydrogel market is segmented into:

• North America
• Latin America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Middle East
• Africa