Source： online

In recent years, demand in the U.S. medical device market has grown non-stop. At present, 2.8 million Americans have home-use medical devices, and of these medical devices, more and more are being made out of plastic. It is reported that home medical devices are already in wide use throughout the United States.

Solvay Specialty Polymers Global Sales Director Dane Waund said that, given the current favorable development, the U.S. medical device market is expected to further expand in the coming years, with demand for medical devices expected to reach 9.4 million units by 2017.

“In the next few years, the demand for U.S. medical devices is expected to double over previous years, which will further increase investment interests of a number of companies, including Solvay,” said Waund at the recently held Society of Plastics Engineers mini technical seminar.

In terms of the customer base, most medical device manufacturers will be positioned towards the baby boomers as they reach old age. However, Dane Waund believes that the current generation of young Americans is also very health conscious, and would also enjoy using convenient, small home medical equipment for quick and easy self check-ups. To that end, apart from the elderly, manufacturers can also extend their target audience to develop products for young Americans.

In terms of materials, Solvay predicts that high-performance polymers will become the material of choice for future medical devices. Solvay said that high-performance materials not only have the rigidity of metal, but they can also lighten the weight of products.