Cardiovascular Medical device sector: a Patent landscape Report

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.