Germany - Four days of Medica mayhem and what did I learn?

My feet know I've spent four days pounding the aisles at Medica. So what did I learn?

The startling thing about Medica is both the abundance of suppliers and at the same time the absence of many big names. Abbott, Roche and Beckman Coulter - the leaders in supplying top end diagnostic equipment were niot there. Nor were Varian and Elektra, the two wordl leaders in radiotherapy. The event is very much an international gathering for distributors and dealers. They are more often from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia than from Western Europe.

But there was a plethora of tiny companies, many offering me-too products. There is nothing like a walk around Medica to make you realise just how inefficient the supply chain must be in medtech.

We think that this is set to change. As we point out elsewhere, the ridiculous price differences that so often exist between one European country and another look set to be eroded as more Pan-European providers emerge in sectors such as imaging, labs, hospitals and residential care.

Another obvious trend is the way procurement has been removed from doctors and nurses and placed in the hands of the CFO and his purchaisng team. One supplier said: "Ten years medical experts made 90pc of the decisions and purchasing 10pc. Today those numbers have reversed." That is an exaggeration but even high end suppliers say they are constantly being pressed to present the business case these days whether they are selling to the private sector or the public.

This should mean the development of broader based distributors who can make the business case for a wide range of products to purchasing teams in non-technical ways.

At the same time, many manufacturers are moving deeper into the homecare space. So Cloloplast intends to bring its US model to Europe.  This means that patients who need ostomy bags will be called when they leave hospital and offered advice and help - possibly even home visits.

We think private healthcare providers, whatever services they supply, are well placed to demand much lower prices in this environment.

The other clear trend is the growth of the Chinese. At 573 exhibitors (including Hong Kong) it now outnumbers US visitors by over 100 and is second only to Germany at under 1,500. Most of the non-Chinese suppliers we talked to said they had moved manufacturing East as well.

Healthcare Europa

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