Stents Global Market estimated to be worth $13.5 billion by 2027

Stents are the hollow, tiny, expandable mesh like cylindrical structures used to prop open the narrowed or strictured vascular or non-vascular tubular passageways, maintain their patency and luminal diameter and ensure an uninterrupted flow of body fluids through the passageways. These metallic or polymeric devices aid in rapidly and efficiently alleviating or palliating of the symptoms associated with clogged vascular or non-vascular systems in a minimally invasive and non-traumatic manner. Incredible technological advancements in the persistently evolving stenting technologies aid in providing immediate symptomatic relief to patients, ensuring longer lifespan and greater quality of life with no risks of general anesthesia and minimal risk of complications and infections. The various types of stent products like bare metal stents (BMS), drug eluting stents (DES), covered stents, flow diverter stents, polymeric non drug eluting stents and even bioresorbable stents are used to treat coronary artery diseases (CAD), peripheral artery diseases (PAD), cerebral aneurysm, venous outflow obstructive conditions, gastrointestinal strictures, urological strictures and others.

The stents global market is estimated to be is expected to reach $13,522.8 million by 2027 growing at a mid single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027. Some of the factors such as escalating prevalence of vascular or non-vascular stenotic conditions and cerebral aneurysms, elevating inclination towards minimally invasive therapeutic procedures across the globe, the trend of coronary stent price slashing and increasing competitiveness of the domestic players in the APAC countries and favorable reimbursement scenario in developed nations are currently driving the stents market growth. Factors like emergence of technologically advanced stent products, persistently escalating geriatric population and the feasibility of even drug eluting stents (DES) in them and the numerous acquisitions and distribution agreements among the stent companies are further substantiating enormous growth opportunities of the market. Paucity of skilled, trained and experienced healthcare professionals for efficiently and safely deploying the various novel, advanced and sophisticated stent products, adverse effects associated with the use of stents, concerns over irrational stenting and underperformance of stents in some of the complex obstructive conditions, stringent regulatory guidelines to be adhered for commercialization of stent products and the threat of recalls are some of the factors that are hindering the market growth.

The stents global market is classified into various market segments such as Product, material, application, end-users and geography. Based on the type of stent product, the market is segmented as bare metal stents, drug eluting stents (DES), bioresorbable stents and other stents consisting of covered stents and the non-drug eluting polymeric stents. Among the overall stents market by product, the drug eluting stents segment accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to increasing popularity and adoption of the highly efficient DESs across the globe and the constant up-scaling of the efficiency and safety profile of the DES with technological advancements. Bioresorbable stents segment is expected to grow at low teen CAGR from 2020 to 2027. The fastest growth rate of this segment is due to increasing demand for an ideal ‘disappearing stent’ that has aided in the restoration of the normal functional characteristics of the stented vessel or internal duct and the increasing research and development activities for the development of highly efficient and safer biodegradable stents that will eliminate or mitigate the lethal adverse effects associated with the existence of a permanent caging structure in the vessel.

The stents global market, by materials is segmented into metal alloy based stents and polymer based stents. The metal alloy based stents is further categorized into cobalt-chrome alloy stents, nitinol or nickel-titanium alloy stents, platinum-chromium alloy stents, stainless steel stents and other metallic biomaterial stents like those made up of magnesium, iron and others. The polymer based stents includes stents made up of durable or biostable polymers and biodegradable polymers. In the overall stents market based on materials, the metal alloy based stents or metallic stents accounted for the largest share of revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a low single digit CAGR attributed to the increasing utilization of various metallic materials in the production of bare metal stents (BMS), drug eluting stents (DES), covered stents and even the bioresorbable stents and the exhibition of the most desirable and advantageous stent characteristics like high tensile or mechanical strength, elasticity, rigidity and radiopacity of the metallic biomaterials. Polymer based stents segment is the fastest emerging segment growing at a high single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the escalating utilization of polymers in the manufacturing of DES, covered stents, polymeric or fabric stents and the polymeric bioresorbable stents and the manifestation of stent advantageous characteristics like flexibility, elasticity and the controlled drug elution kinetics by the polymers.

The stents market by application has been broadly classified as vascular and non-vascular stents. Among these, the vascular stents segment accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the persistently elevating prevalence of vascular stenotic conditions and cerebral aneurysm across the globe that is in need of various efficient, technologically advanced and minimally traumatizing therapeutic interventions like stenting procedures and the increasing research and development activities leading to the emergence of numerous technologically advanced, innovative vascular stent products. The vascular stents are further segmented into coronary artery stents, peripheral artery stents, neurovascular stents (carotid artery stents, intracranial artery stents and flow diverter stents) and others consisting of venous stents, vertebral artery stents and pulmonary artery stents. The coronary artery stent segment accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the persistently escalating prevalence of obstructive conditions or perforations of the coronary artery and the emergence of more efficient and safer technologically advanced coronary stent products. Neurovascular stents segment is the fastest emerging segment and is expected of growing at a high single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the ever escalating neurovascular stenotic conditions and cerebral aneurysms throughout the globe and the increasing research focus for the development of more efficient and safer neurovascular stent products.

Based on the application areas, non-vascular stents are segmented into gastrointestinal stents consisting of biliary, pancreatic, colonic, esophageal and duodenal stents; urinary tract stents or urological stents, airway or tracheobronchial stents or pulmonary stents and others consisting of ophthalmic stents. Among these, the gastrointestinal stents segment accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a low single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the persistently elevating prevalence of obstructive conditions of the gastrointestinal tract across the globe and the emergence of more efficient and safer technologically advanced gastrointestinal stent products.

In stents global market, the end-users mainly consist of Hospitals; Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and others consisting of Freestanding or mobile Catheterization Labs and Research Institutes. Among the various end-users, Hospitals segment accounted for the largest share of revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a low single digit CAGR during the period 2020 to 2027 due to increased utilization of wide range of stent products, availability of emergency care facilities and skilled and experienced interventionalists in the hospitals and the good reimbursement scenario in developed nations for the stenting procedures performed in the hospital associated in-patient or out-patient settings. Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) segment is the fastest emerging segment and is expected of growing at a mid single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the increasing inclination towards outpatient care among the patient pool across the globe, availability of skilled and experienced healthcare professionals in these healthcare settings, capability of ASC settings to provide an cost-efficient overall better and personalized patient experience without hospital admission and favourable reimbursement scenario in developed nations.

The stents global market is divided into four major geographies namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of World (ROW). The major share of the stents global market revenue is occupied by Asia-Pacific in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the persistently elevating prevalence of vascular and non-vascular stenotic conditions in the region, increasing affordability and accessibility of the major stent products like coronary stents among the patients of some of the major countries in the region attributed to government imposed price slashing measures for these life-saving devices, elevating geriatric population impaired with various kinds of vascular or non-vascular obstructive diseases, increasing patient awareness and demand for better, quick minimally invasive, efficient therapeutic procedures with advanced therapeutic products, growing economies of the region, persistently developing healthcare infrastructural facilities in the region, increasing healthcare expenditures and medical tourism aspects of the region. Rest of World (ROW) is the fastest emerging region in the stents global market and is expected of growing at a high single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027. The rapid market growth rate in this region is due to escalating prevalence of vasculature and duct system associated obstructive conditions in the region, increasing geriatric population loaded with various kinds of stenotic conditions, increasing patient awareness and demand for better, quick minimally invasive therapeutic procedures and efficient therapeutic products, growing economies of the region, increasing per capita expenditure on healthcare needs and medical tourism prospects of the region.

Technological advancements are rapidly revolutionizing the stents industry with various innovative and value based, patient friendly devices emerging in the market. Most of the major advancements in this field are focused on continuously enhancing the overall architecture and efficiency of the stents through the utilization of advanced fabrication technologies, novel stent materials like the shape memory alloy, nitinol; efficient pharmaceutical agents and advanced stent coatings made of organic polymers, inorganic materials or biological components and at overcoming the shortcomings of the currently available stents like stent thrombosis and in-stent restenosis and in stent design breakthroughs through product value engineering to develop finely refined stents with reduced strut thickness, longer lengths, smaller diameters for enabling easy delivery into the tortuous vessels or ducts and ensuring improved traceability and flexibility of the stents. Upcoming technologies like development of smart stents integrated with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) for remote monitoring of the implanted stent and providing real-time prognostic information associated with the stent to assist in the early diagnosis and prevention of potential adverse events, development of 3D printed customized or patient specific stents, 4D printed personalized shape memory microstents for treating uretheral strictures in foetus or new born babies, Polyzene-F (PzF) nanocoated anti-inflammatory and thrombo-resistant non-drug eluting coronary stent, bioengineered stents coated with human antibodies to accelerate natural healing mechanism of the stented vessel, to camouflage the stent and avoid triggering of patient’s immune response, gene eluting stents (GES) for prolonged elution of therapeutic genes to mitigate the problems of late stent thrombosis and restenosis and to aid and accelerate tissue regeneration capacity are expected to drive the stents market in the coming years. Thus the current technological advancements and upcoming technologies that help in overcoming the limitations of the present stent innovations will help in reversing the scattered adoption and implementation rate of the highly efficient stent interventions.

According to IQ4I analysis, the total number of global coronary stent implantation procedure volume is expected to grow at a high single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027. The largest number of coronary stent interventional procedures was performed in APAC region in 2020 and the procedural volume in the region is expected to grow at a low teen CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the escalating prevalence of stenotic conditions of coronary artery and the constantly improving efficiency and safety profile of coronary stents. The total number of global peripheral stent implantation procedures is expected to grow at a mid single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027. The largest number of peripheral stent interventional procedures was performed in the APAC region in 2020 and the procedural volume in the region is expected to grow at a high single digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the escalating prevalence of stenotic conditions of peripheral arteries and the constant technological advancements and engineering improvements in peripheral stents. As per these major stent implantation procedural volume analysis data, stents market is rapidly growing and is expected to continue the trend owing to the increasing adoption rate of the highly efficient, economical and safer technologically advanced stent products for the quick remediation of the symptoms associated with vascular and non-vascular stenotic conditions and cerebral aneurysm.

According to our analysis, the stents market is currently witnessing a butterfly effect, the phenomenon that signifies that even small localized changes or events can have huge non-linear impacts or large consequences on a complex system or market. The stents industry is showcasing a deviation from the usual medical device market trend of North American or European countries dominating the market. Stents market is currently dominated by the developing nations of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and its futuristic growth is largely dependent on the emerging nations from the Rest of World (ROW) region. Emergence of local companies in the region, their increasing competitiveness, adoption of product innovation according to the local needs or demands as their major business strategy, development of novel, next-generation stent products of international quality standards and efficiency from the domestic players of these regions and the various government measures to curb the highly inflated prices of these life saving devices from MNC’s and thereby increase accessibility of these devices to their ever escalating patient pool have contributed largely to the butterfly effect or reversal of the usual medical device market trend in the stents industry. The year on year high growth rate of the stents market in this region is further fuelled by the growing middle class population in the region, persistently elevating geriatric population in the region, increasing healthcare awareness, developing healthcare infrastructural facilities in the region, increasing government support, preference for indigenous products and the improving reimbursement scenario in the region. To gain share of these lucrative market, MNC’s have adopted the strategy of relocating their manufacturing or R&D facilities to these nations, entering into collaborations or joint ventures.

To gain more market share by bringing innovative and differentiated products to the market and to stay abreast in the patient-driven market with smart and superior medical devices, the stent companies are constantly striving for the approval of their innovative stent products especially in the potentially growing but untapped disease areas. For instance, in December 2020, Microport Scientific Corporation received NMPA approval for its Bridge Vertebral Drug-Eluting Stent for treating symptomatic vertebral artery stenosis. In October 2020, Cook Medical’s Zilver Vena Venous Self-Expanding Stent received FDA pre-market approval (PMA) to treat symptomatic iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction.

Most of the stent companies are trying to expand and enhance their product portfolio to increase their market reach and to perpetuate their leadership status in the market. To enhance their core capabilities and product offerings, larger companies are adopting the strategy of acquisitions that helps them to expand their technology to address new sections of the market or provide them access to innovative products of small niche players in the market. For instance, in June 2019, U.S. based Merit Medical Systems, Inc. acquired Brightwater Medical Inc., with an FDA approved ConvertX biliary stent system, to enhance its product portfolio with quality certified products.

Acquisition as a strategy has also been adopted by the companies to conquer new regional markets and enhancing their market share in highly lucrative stent market regions with an increased on-ground presence or domestic player support. In November 2019, Indian firm, Sahajanand Medical Technologies (SMT) acquired the sales and marketing company, Zarek Distribuidora De Produtos Hospitalares of Brazil, with a product portfolio consisting of coronary stents, balloons, drug-eluting balloons and peripheral stents, to strengthen its commercial footprint in the country and to slowly expand into the other Latin American markets. In January 2019, Japan-based Terumo Corporation completed the acquisition of Essen Technology of China, a company offering advanced drug-eluting stents (DES), to enter the highly remunerative Chinese coronary DES market that prefers primarily domestic products.

The stents market is consolidated with the top five players with the top five players occupying majority of the market share and the remaining minority share of the market being occupied by other players. The top players in stents market are Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.), Abbott Laboratories (U.S.), Medtronic PLC (Ireland), Terumo Corporation (Japan), Cook Medical LLC (U.S.), Cardinal Health Inc. (U.S.), Becton, Dickinson and company (U.S.), B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), Biotronik SE & Co.KG (Germany), Blue Sail Medical Co. Ltd (Biosensors International Pte Ltd) (China) and others.