The sterilization capital equipment space across the 10 major markets of the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Japan, Brazil, China, and India is set to grow from around $663 million in 2015 to just under $840 million by 2022, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The company’s latest report states that this growth, which represents a steady compound annual growth rate of 3.42%, will to a large degree be driven by technological advances which are able to save some of the time and costs associated with sterilizing medical equipment. 

Tina Deng, MSc, GlobalData’s Analyst covering Medical Devices, explains: “With the growth of elderly populations and an increase in minimally invasive procedures, the need for medical instruments to be reprocessed grows rapidly, which leads to the rising demand for sterilization equipment.”

In terms of product advancements, new sterilizers offer greatly improved efficiency and are able to reduce operators’ workload. Continued improvements in low-temperature sterilizers have resulted in reduced processing times and expanded capabilities for instrument reprocessing, while optimized control systems offer faster turnaround and economical operation.

Physical sterilizers to conduct steam sterilization dominate the market, due to their effective microbicidal features, strong penetration, fast cycle time, and affordable price. With the development of complex surgical instruments, more heat- and moisture-sensitive devices have been used in surgical procedures. Consequently, chemical sterilizers using low-temperature sterilization technology have consistently gained acceptance.

Deng continues: “The largest and most dynamic companies in the sterilization equipment market offer comprehensive portfolios of physical sterilizers, chemical sterilizers, and associated accessories and consumables. Getinge and Steris became market leaders by offering a variety of products with extensive feature sets in a different area.

“Other companies, including 3M, ASP, Andersen, Matachana, Baumer, Belimed, BMM Weston, Miura, LTE Scientific, MMM, Tuttnauer, and Tso3, have remained innovative in order to compete with larger manufacturers.”

more about globaldata