Market Challenges And Opportunities

Stroke management market is driven by advancements in technology and therapeutic along with increasing incidence of stroke and strict approval system which is expected to hinder growth of global stroke management market.

Global Stroke Management Market Driver

The advancements in technology and facilities to diagnose stroke and discovery of novel drugs will drive growth of stroke management market. Technologies such as robotic-assisted angiography or exoskeleton soft suit for rehabilitation are the upcoming future of stroke management market. Moreover, an idea of Mobile Stroke Treatment Units (MSTU) was introduced in Germany in 2003 and was used in Berlin for the first time in 2008. The Prehospital Acute Neurological Treatment and Optimization of Medical care in Stroke Study (PHANTOM-S) in Germany reported that their MSTU significantly decreased stroke alert-to-treatment times from 76 minutes to 52 minutes, and significantly increased thrombolysis rates from 21% to 33% with no increase in the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage. Therefore, advancements in mobile stroke treatment units are expected to fuel growth of stroke management market.

Conventional stroke treatment aims at minimizing damage caused due to acute stroke by intravenous thrombolytics and endovascular thrombectomy, however, there is no proven cure for reversing the damage. It calls for a robust armamentarium of therapies for stroke treatment such as cell therapy, which has immense potential to propel the market in near future. Cell therapy can be used for re-vascularization after stroke and for reduction of cerebral inflammation. Phase II clinical trials of intravenous transplantation of autologous bone-marrow stem cells have reported safety and tolerability in stroke patients. Other pending clinical trials such as PISCES can also be considered as future candidates for clinical practice. Under equipped or untrained emergency medical service providers and strict governmental regulations on the approval of new drugs or advanced devices are some of the factors that are likely to hinder growth of stroke management market.

The narrow range of drugs available for the treatment of stroke offers wide options for research organizations and key players to excel the stroke management market by discovering novel drugs with less side-effects. Merger and acquisition is the key strategy to expand the stroke management market. In May 2017, Codman Neuro, a part of Johnson & Johnson acquired Neuravi Ltd., an Irish medical device company that manufactures advanced revascularization devices and EmboTrap is a device manufactured by this company. The EmboTrap platform was intended to address the critical need for rapid restoration of blood flow in stroke patients and the combination of Neuravi’s expertise in clot research with Codman Neuro’s global resources aims to accelerate development in the field of acute ischemic stroke treatment. Furthermore, the strong therapeutic pipeline of players will enhance the growth of stroke management market. In 2018, NuvOx Pharma’s dodecafluoropentane emulsion (DDFPe) IV entered phase II clinical trials and DDFPe aims to deliver oxygen to the hypoxic tissue of the brain. Also, in 2018, DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc. announced DM199, a recombinant human tissue kallikrein, to enter phase II clinical trial and it is expected to be a breakthrough in stroke treatment.