INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

The global medical industry is one of the world's fastest growing industries, absorbing over 10% of gross domestic product of most developed nations. It constitutes of broad services offered by various hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, diagnostic laboratories, pharmacies and ably supported by drugs, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, medical equipment, manufacturers and suppliers.

The medical and health care industry provides enormous employment opportunities to choose from. Apart from using the services of medical professionals, this industry also utilizes the expert services of public policy workers, medical writers, clinical research lab workers, IT professionals, sales/marketing professionals and health insurance providers.

SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY

The United States of America has one of the largest medical and healthcare industries in the world, followed by Switzerland and Germany. The USA's medical industry comprises of more than 750,000 physicians and 5,200 hospitals. USA witnesses approximately 3.8 million inpatient visits and 20 million outpatients visit on a daily basis. Furthermore, the United States of America has the largest workforce i.e. one in every 11 US residents employed in the health care business.

The Global prescription drug market was $550 billion in the year 2006. Also, the total health care expenditures across the world were $4.5 trillion last year. Of which, US solely account for $ 2.2 trillion, $ 2 trillion in OECD countries and remaining $ 0.3 in other countries of the world.

MAJOR SEGMENTS OF THE INDUSTRY

The global medical industry is highly fragmented, comprising of various ancillary sectors namely medical equipment and supplies, pharmaceutical, healthcare services, biotechnology, and alternative medicines sectors.

• Medical Equipment and Supplies:

  Consists of various establishments or units engaged in designing, manufacturing, selling and distributing of surgical and medical instruments, ophthalmic, lab apparatus, electro medical, dental, irradiation, surgical appliances and supplies.
  
  SHARE OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES IN 2006
  

• Pharmaceutical Industry

  Comprises of several establishments involved in developing, researching, marketing and distributing drugs or medicines. Globally, the market share of pharmaceutical industry is US $340 billion. The global pharmaceutical sales account for US$ 602 billion, with an annual growth rate of 7%. In the year 2006, the global pharmaceutical exports totaled US $ 271.9 billion having an annual growth rate of 10%.
  
  
  

• Healthcare Services Industry

  It includes various establishments dealing in different type of services like testing, outsourcing, transcription, quality assurance, validation, compliance, chemical analysis, and other types of services. The global market share of biotechnology services industry is worth US $ 50 billion, which is soon expected to witness a hike in coming years. Presently, pharmaceutical testing service industry values to US $ 5.9 billion, which is predicted to reach US $ 9.5 billion by the end of 2009. Microbiological testing service industry accounts for US $ 2.4 billion. Globally, the medical outsourcing services industry accounts for approximately US $ 200 billion.
  
  

• Biotechnology Industry

  It is one of the most research-intensive segments of the global healthcare industry. Biotechnology industry is composed of many establishments, which are engaged in making wide variety of biotech products. Biotechnology is primarily being used by the pharmaceutical industry but there are other industries like agriculture, mining, waste treatment industries as well, which are making continuous use of biotechnology. Biotechnology companies focus on developing methods or products used for preventing, diagnosing and treating dozens of life threatening and chronic diseases. The biotechnology industry has mushroomed since its inception and at present it is equivalent to US $ 50.7 billion. China, USA, India, Australia, and France are the market leaders of biotech products in the world.
  
  
  

• Alternative Medication Industry:

  It includes various groups involved in the promotion of different forms of alternative medications and therapies like ayurveda, homeopathy, aromatherapy, massage therapy etc. The total market size of alternative medicine is valued at US $2.7 billion while global market for traditional therapies accounts for US $60 billion.

KEY GROWTH DRIVERS OF THIS INDUSTRY

There are various factors, which govern the growth of the medical and healthcare industry. Some of the key factors are:

• Continuous investments in research & development has resulted in increased productivity and better quality of drugs, medicines, medical instruments, hospital equipment, and other medical supplies used in medical industry.
• Provides employment to large chunk of human population. United States of America has the largest workforce i.e. one in every 11 US residents employed in the health care business.
• Increased costs in the medical treatment in the developed nations have driven patients to migrate to Asian countries.
• Rise in ailments among the ageing population especially in developed nations has led to the increase in demand of variety of drugs or medicines.
• Innovative techniques of drug discovery and drug development, new cures and treatments, gene testing for insurance, genetic predictions of disease and related issue, human cloning and reproductive technologies are the other key drivers of the medical industry.

FUTURE PERSPECTIVE OF THE INDUSTRY

The future perspective of medical industry seems to be immensely bright and encouraging for this industry in terms of the expected surge in global demand and upsurge in investments. Several trends such as globalization, continuous investments in research and development, newer techniques of drug development and discovery, product proliferation, mergers and acquisitions are the key drivers of this industry.
Increasing corporatization of Private Healthcare in the backdrop of a growing and affluent middle class is an emerging trend that has been pushing the growth of this industry. Health Insurance and Medical Tourism are the other significant trends, which are governing the global healthcare and medical industry. Most of the nations are now emphasizing on the accreditation of medical professionals so as to ensure legitimacy of the services provided by them. Robust advancement in the field of information technology will allow critical medical data to be processed and transferred quickly over larger distances, thereby saving time of both the patients and physicians in the speeding delivery of treatment.