Market Challenges And Opportunities

Increasing prevalence of chronic diseases is expected to drive market growth

Increasing prevalence of gastrointestinal, urological and pulmonary or airway diseases is expected to fuel the demand for non-vascular stents. Conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), central airway obstruction, and asthma demand the use of pulmonary stents, to open up narrowed airways and ease the respiration process. According to WHO, more than three million people die each year from COPDs worldwide and 90% of these deaths in low and middle income countries. Furthermore, in U.S., every year, kidney disorders kills more people than prostate or breast cancer. For instance, in 2013, approximately 47,000 Americans died from kidney disease. Gastrointestinal diseases have been a major problem and cover a wide variety of parts of the system, (i.e. rectum, intestines, duodenum, and esophagus). Generally, these diseases are treated with palliation with the use of non-vascular stents. In recent years, non-vascular stents have been a standard treatment for removing occluding tumors in the gastrointestinal system.

Advancements in technology to accelerate the market growth

Increasing advancements in technology and material is aiding in the development of specially designed stents for used in various indications, is increasing the demand for non-vascular stents in a wide range of applications. For instance, the development of biodegradable polymers and bio-absorbable scaffolds is increasing the use of stents in pulmonary, gastrointestinal, urological, and biliary strictures. Poly capro-lactone, poly acryl amine, and poly lactic acid-glycolic acid are few of the newly designed biodegradable stent materials, which eliminate the need for stent removal. Nitinol is increasingly being utilized in non-vascular self-expandable stents, as it offers super elasticity and therefore is beneficial to the stent placement in difficult segments of an internal tract. However, high costs of non-vascular stents is expected to negatively impact growth of the market.