A Medical Device Daily

The growing requirement of new installations in several hospitals, teamed with the need for replacing existing units, is resulting in the gradual growth of the eastern European anesthesia equipment market, international consulting firm Frost & Sullivan (F&S; London) says in a new report.

The report, “Eastern European Anesthesia Equipment Market,” says that the market earned revenues of $20.6 million in 2007 and is expected to reach $33.5 million in 2014.

The establishment of new hospitals as well as the willingness to acquire sophisticated technologies for operating rooms will boost unit sales, says F&S Research Analyst Krishanu Bhattacharjee.

In particular, the demand for medium-priced, integrated workstations and low-cost, stand-alone monitors is on the rise and can strengthen unit sales in the replacement market.

“The replacement of existing units in countries such as Poland, where a large number of anesthesia equipment [has] already been installed in the previous decade, promises much growth,” Bhattacharjee says. “With countries looking to step up the process of hospital-IT integration, the demand for anesthesia information management systems is expected to grow in the coming years.”

With Bulgaria and Romania joining the European Union, budgetary concerns in the price-sensitive eastern European market are expected to ease off to an extent, F&S says.

However, the report says price sensitivity “still continues to challenge participants, as it ensured the influx of several low-cost manufacturers, especially from Asia.” Low-cost manufacturers have been especially active in the stand-alone monitors segment of the market, according to Bhattacharjee.

With governments playing a strong role in the issuing of tenders as well as backing local manufacturers for such equipment, the market attractiveness for vendors from other countries has “suffered a setback,” F&S says. The lack of proper channels of distribution and stiff challenge from low-cost manufacturers remain the chief causes of concern for most market participants.

“Global vendors looking to gain a foothold in this market must offer high-end technology at competitive prices,” says Bhattacharjee. “They also should build strategic alliances with local vendors and form a robust service and support network to their end users.”

Israeli firm gets pair of CE marks

MediGuide (Haifa, Israel) reported receipt of the CE mark its Medical Position System (MPS) and MPS-enabled Guided Measurement Catheter (GMC). The MPS system is a tracking and navigation system designed to be used in various less-invasive procedures.

An MPS equipped on an X-ray imaging cath lab system is intended for intravascular evaluation of coronary anatomy. It is intended to enable real-time tip positioning and navigation of an MPS-enabled diagnostic or therapeutic invasive device used in coronary or cardiac intervention in the cath lab, on both live fluoroscopy or recorded background.

The first MPS-enabled catheter, which also received the CE mark, is the Guided Measurement Catheter. The MPS-enabled GMC intravascular device is intended to be used in conjunction with conventional X-ray angiography systems equipped with MPS — to enable real-time tip positioning and navigation, quantitative length measurement, 3-D lumen reconstruction, qualitative 3-D foreshortening indication and landmarking — in patients who are candidates for coronary angiography and/or percutaneous coronary intervention.

MediGuide was established in 2001 as a spin-off of Israeli defense technology company Elbit System.

Promega going direct in Sweden

Promega (Madison, Wisconsin), a provider of life science tools enabling scientists in genomics, proteomics and cellular analysis research, said it will begin direct operations in Sweden in January.

The company said the decision to offer direct service comes in response to scientists’ increasing needs for tools and technologies. Its Swedish unit, Promega Biotech, (Stockholm), will serve laboratories, universities, medical research centers, government institutes, as well as biotech, pharma and agricultural companies.

Promega CEO William Linton said, “Sweden has a very strong life science research base and has the highest R&D expenditure per capita. Sweden employs 48,000 in R&D and represents the fourth-largest biotech industry in Europe. By establishing a business in Stockholm, we hope to achieve significant improvements in all aspects of service to the local life science research community, from faster product delivery to individualized technical service.”

Recently hired general manager Patrick Van de Velde has more than 10 years of sales and marketing experience in biotech in Sweden. Staff will include dedicated field applications specialist to service scientists in their labs.

Promega products have been distributed in Sweden for years by SDS Biosciences. The company’s 2,000 products include biochemical reagents, kits and integrated solutions that “enable scientists worldwide to advance their knowledge in human identification, genomics, proteomics, cellular analysis and molecular diagnostics.”

CE mark for cat allergy test

Biomerica (Newport Beach, California) said it has received CE-mark approval to market and sell a new 15-minute home test for allergies to cats and said it will sell the product directly to consumers through drug stores in the European Union.

The product will be marketed under the Fortel Cat allergy test brand.

“Consumers will now be able to screen for allergies to cats in the privacy of their own home,” said Biomerica CEO Zackary Irani. “We are entering into discussions with several distributors in various European countries.”

The Fortel Cat allergy test uses a technology that requires only a drop of a person’s blood, with results in 15 minutes. The company said the test is a part of its line of easy-to-use tests designed to detect diseases before they become catastrophic, incurable or costly to treat.”

UK chain orders 30 Perimeter analyzers

Paradigm Medical Industries (Salt Lake City), a provider of glaucoma diagnostic and management devices, said it has received an order for 30 Dicon LD400 Visual Fields Analyzers (Perimeters) from what it described as “one of the largest optical chains in the UK.” Delivery is scheduled by year-end.