Medical devices are now a pervasive
part of modern medical care. The medical
device industry includes a wide range of products for various kinds of
therapeutic area and diseases. It is comprised of the companies that are
involved in developing, manufacture, and market medical apparatuses,
instruments, equipment, devices and supplies. The medical device sector
comprises of different types of products ranging from simple bandages to life
sustaining implantable devices. Owing to the increased prominence of cardiac
diseases in the country, exploring the cardiovascular device sector would show
the trend, pitfall and the growth of innovation in this area.
This report encompasses patents filed in cardiovascular device sector
in the Indian Patent office and also includes Patents that have entered though
PCT. This analysis involves several types of cardiovascular devices that
include commonly known devices such as Pacemaker, Angiographs, ECG and also
latest sophistications such as Coronary Stents, Artificial Heart Valve, Cardiac
Assist device etc. Coronary
stent is a small tube that is inserted into the coronary arteries to widen its
wall thereby treating blockages. Artificial heart valve is of two types: biological and mechanical
heart valve; they are replaced when the natural heart valve malfunctions and it
obstructs the blood flow between the chambers of the heart. Cardiac assist
device is a broad term which refers to the devices that support or substitute
the function of the heart during cardiac arrest or a cardiac surgery.
1)
No. of Patents Granted/published in different
sectors of Cardiovascular devices
The
category cardiac medical device is a generic category of devices that could not
be classified into any of the mentioned categories. This category involves
devices useful during the cardiac surgery, cardiac defibrillator, angioplasty
device etc. Largest number of patents is filed in the Heart valve sector, with a significantly large pool of
under-served patients; represent the biggest opportunity for the leading
medical equipment and devices manufacturers. This is followed by Stents that
contributes to the major part of the total minimally invasive vascular
interventional devices market used in coronary and peripheral procedures. No much research
activity is taking place in the area of angiographs and heart implant sector in
India, which means that such older techniques are replaced by the advanced
sophistications in recent years.
2)
Patent filings by Geography
The graph 2 represents the number of granted patents and published applications those of Indian
origin and which have entered Indian national phase through PCT application. It
shows that cardiovascular market is dominated by the international players and
very meagre contribution by the Indian companies. The expanded view shows the
geographical distribution of PCT applications. United States of America generates overwhelming
majority of the PCT applications filling in this field, followed by Germany,
Australia, Canada, France and UK. Israel has granted patents in India
territory; indicates the interest of applicant to enter Indian market. Further
Japan also shows to arise with PCT applications in Indian National phase.
3)
Key players in the industry
The report
summarizes that foreign companies like Koninklijke Philips Electronics and
Sunshine Heart Company Pvt. Ltd are the top key players in cardiovascular
medical device in India.
These companies have involved in
intellectual gains of their devices through patents. Cardiovascular medical devices by Koninklijke
Philips Electronics includes Stents (2 granted patents), Monitoring device (4
published applications), Magnetic resonance imaging involved in cardiac disease
diagnosis (1 in granted patents and 1 published application) and Computed topography
(2 granted patents). This data reveals that Philips is actively involved in
Patenting their cardiovascular device innovation and marketing in India. Sunshine
Heart Company Pvt. Ltd., a US-Australia based medical device company is engaged in the design and development of C-Pulse heart
assist devices. The Company has only one operating segment, which is the
research and development of heart assist devices and keenly involved in
innovation of cardiac assist devices. All India institute of medical
science is the only Indian player in this field. Medtronic Inc. (U.S.) is the world’s leading
medical technology company specializing in implantable and invasive therapies. Medtronics
in India have 2 granted patents in Heart valve sector and 2 granted patents in other
Cardiac medical device.
Conclusion
Cardiovascular medical devices in Indian market
have made enormous growth in last five years and the growth rate of
technological convergence in medical device will become deeper over time. There
is considerable work being done at the interface between mechanical and
electronic engineering, with bioscience, in developing sophisticated
cardiovascular devices such as life sustaining stents, prosthetic heart valves, sophisticated operational tools, Imaging
technologies and ultra modern diagnostic kits, and many more on the list. The
number of granted patents and applications are increasing every year in way
giving enough space for the innovators to apply their technical skills by
innovating new equipments in the field of cardiovascular medical devices. Indian
market for medical supplies
and disposables is dominated by the domestic manufacturers, whereas importers
dominate the costly and high end medical equipments. Thus, the report emphasises that India is emerging as a
biggest market for the medical giant to invest their intellectuals in the Indian
patent pool.
