Neuro Endovascular Market Ready to Consolidate

The brain is the final frontier in the endovascular space and with a rapid succession of innovative devices entering the market and many more in R&D pipelines or near commercialization, the neuro endovascular industry is about to engage warp drive.

However, Boston Scientific (BSX), the top player in the space, is still struggling under the debt burden from its Guidant acquisition. Since neurovascular constitutes less than 5% of Boston Scientific's total revenue it has received little attention from top management and has lagged behind in terms of innovation.

Several times the company announces plans of launching next generation neuro coils and then postpones launch date and loses market share to innovative young companies like Micrus Endovascular (MEND) and ev3 (EVVV).

The Neuro Endovascular Market, with double digit growth rate, is very attractive however Boston Scientific problems and a decline in its neurovascular business unit revenue last year is weighing on combined growth rate and pushing the whole market into a state of temporary maturity.

According to a new Medtech Report titled: “Neuro Endovascular Market – Strategic Assessment and Trend Analysis”, global neurovascular intervention sales will reach close to one billion dollars in 2010, a good size market for a lead player and a good sized contender. This has been the case, until recently, with Boston Scientific in the lead and Codman (JNJ), with troubles of its own, a distant second.

Smelling blood, new entrant Terumo moved into the market by acquiring MicroVention, a Tustin California rapidly growing innovator of catheter-based neurovascular technologies.

Sensing a change in the pecking order ev3 and Micrus moved into fourth gear with rapid succession of next generation product launches, aggressive marketing and both imparked on an acquisition spree, with the latest acquisition of Chestnut Medical by ev3 making headlines with its $150 million price tag.

Cards have already been reshuffled in the space with ev3 moving to second place and Micrus moving into fourth place.

However, with both companies vying  for market leadership and Boston Scientific sleeping at the helm, cards are bound to be reshuffled a couple of more times and the winners are venture backed innovative startups with the right technologies in their pipelines, just like Chestnut Medical.