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Growing Role of Nanotechnology in Medical Device Applications

August 11, 2008 – 3:27 pm

To the surprise of no one, the med-tech industry is finding that there is, still, plenty of room at the bottom, to paraphrase physicist and nanotechnology pioneer Richard Feynman. The global medical market for nanotechnology applications accounted for approximately US$1.7 billion in 2007. The vast majority of this revenue–nearly 90%–was generated by pharmaceutical applications. In the years ahead, however, nanotechnology applications in the medical device arena are forecast to surge, while its use in drug-related activities contracts. Those are some of the findings of a report titled Global Medical Markets for Nanoscale Materials and Devices.

BCC Research, which will issue the report this month, predicts that the use of nanotech-related materials, tools, and devices will attain a compound annual growth rate between 14.9% and 19.9% by 2018, potentially generating US$9.4 billion in revenue. By that time, the report predicts that pharma will account for 51% of the medical share of nanotech applications, whereas medical devices and medical research may account for as much as 20% each.

The report on nanoscale materials and devices was not available at the time of writing, but BCC Research has announced that it will be published in August 2008. There’s nothing tiny about the price by the way: a PDF version will set you back US$4850.

If you are keeping your eye on this market, don’t forget that NanoEurope returns next month to St. Gallen, Switzerland. Although the event is dedicated to nanotechnology in all of its diversity, medical applications are always part of the mix.

This year, the integration of biosensors into wound dressings and medical textiles will be a featured topic. In particular, the session will summarize research in this field that is being conducted at the Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique SA. The R&D centre located in Neuchâtel is leading the European Biotex project, which is dedicated to the development of biochemical-sensing techniques that are compatible with textiles. Other med-tech related topics that will be addressed at the conference include the use of magnetic nanoparticles in lab-on-a-chip systems and the role of nanoparticles and nanostructures in biomedical engineering.