The global dialysis industry has grown noticeably in the past five years as governments seek to provide adequate healthcare for those suffering from renal failure, says a new report.
"World Market for Dialysis Equipment and Services," by medical market research publisher Kalorama Information, estimates that the dialysis market has experienced 5 percent to 6 percent growth per year in the past five years.
"The number of dialysis patients is growing steadily by about 4 percent to 6 percent per year in Europe, the United States and Japan and by 6 percent to 10 percent in the rest of the world," said Kalorama Publisher Bruce Carlson. "The expansion of the dialysis industry has resulted in improvements in the overall mortality rates of dialysis patients with a marked reduction in adjusted one-year death rates for patients worldwide. Overall, there were about 26,000 dialysis centers across the globe in 2008."
Carlson said the dialysis market is divided into two lucrative segments – the medical device industry and the healthcare services industry. The latter accounted for most of the approximately $60 billion generated by the global dialysis market in 2008. Kalorama estimates that the dialysis services market stood at $51 billion last year, or almost 85 percent of the total dialysis market.
Though relatively small in size, the less than 2 million dialysis patients that comprise the market are stable and lend the industry a non-cyclical nature that leaves it only minimally affected by the vagaries of economic hardship that often cripple other industries.
Kalorama expects continuous high and stable growth to propel the services segment of the market to more than $66 billion in 2013, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.6 percent from 2009-2013.
In most major world markets, some form of government health insurance program provides financing for the vast proportion of dialysis treatment. However, a trend toward more countries permitting private dialysis clinics favors industry growth, Carlson said.
The report notes that companies that have integrated vertically into setting up dialysis centers have made a substantial leap in terms of revenues and profits.