Medical Plastics: Sunrise Industry with Bright Prospects

By Wang Ming, Tianjin Plastics Research Institute Co., Ltd.

The medical apparatus market in China grew from RMB17.0 billion in 2001 to RMB370.0 billion in 2016 – an annual growth of around 20%. If that growth rate is maintained, the market is expected to reach RMB700 billion by 2020. The medical plastics sector in particular has developed rapidly in recent years to become a sunrise industry, attracting great attention from numerous plastics enterprises.

Demand has grown fast for some time

Basic plastic materials commonly used in making medical apparatuses include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane (PU), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polycarbonates (PC) and polystyrene (PS). PVC and PE are the most popular, accounting respectively for 28% and 24% of all consumption (PS 18%; PP 16%; and engineering plastics 14%). Trade in disposable medical consumables constitutes 20% of China’s medical apparatus market.
Plastic medical products can be classified by application into disposable medical devices, replacement organs, lab plastic products, medical packaging materials, medical product containers and dressings. With the rapid progress of 3D printing technology, medical plastics have gained more and more applications in surgical planning models and other one-of-a-kind custom items.

Orthopedic devices have potential

Globally, orthopedic devices account for 9% of the medical apparatus market. Implantable orthopedic devices are clinical medical materials for supporting, repairing or filling human bones, or substituting for bones.
The market for orthopedic devices is still in the initial period of development in China, but growth is rapid. The compound annual growth rate has reached 15.5% in the past five years. With the China’s aging population, demand for implantable orthopedic devices will continue to increase, and the market scale will likely exceed RMB30 billion by 2020.
Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) displays sound biocompatibility, good elastic modulus and thermal conductivity and is X-ray penetrable. It has therefore gained extensive applications in orthopedic devices.

Product development trends

1. Functional
Wearable: For example, artificial kidneys can enable patients to move around during dialysis. Patients can carry out jobs and daily activities while a wearable apparatus operates normally, increasing their comfort.
Degradable: Biodegradable stent technology can restore the integrity and function of a blood vessel to its natural state. Examples include degradable heart stents, degradable anchors, degradable bile duct stents and pancreatic duct stents, biodegradable implantable sensors and degradable valves.
Finishing: Finishes include anti-adhesion coating, anticoagulant coating, surface finishing, ultrasonic coating, magnetic coating, antibacterial coating and new water-based super lubricating coating. More and more institutions and universities in China have started such research, but there is still a long way to go before commercialization.
2. Precise
With the development of medical care technologies, standards for surgery are more and more stringent. Strict temperature control in the course of operation is essential, requiring advanced medical apparatuses. In precision medical care, targeted drug delivery by dendrimers can take drugs into tight places for slow release.
3. Integrated
Since 2002 the United States and Europe sometimes implant a new aortic valve through a catheter. The technology has been called the fourth revolution in cardiovascular intervention. Research on first-generation products in China was launched in 2012, and success has been achieved in clinical practice. In 2017, the China Food & Drug Administration approved putting similar domestic products on the market.
4. Chip-geared
Bio-chips embedded in human bodies can monitor physiological indexes. New electronic sensors made of polylactic acid/glycolic acid copolymer (PLGA) and silicon resin can record and transmit physiological indexes such as brain temperature and pressure.
5. Personalized
Hunan University demonstrated rapid 3D printing of substitute biological tissue (starting with small-diameter artificial blood vessels), using biopolymers with polylactic acid/polycaprolactone (PLA/PCL) as the principal raw material.
China’s medical plastics sector now features great product variety, numerous new products and complex specifications, but mid-market and low-end products are quite undifferentiated. Professionalism is strong. Small enterprises are numerous (accounting for 90%) and M&A is frequent, but there seems to be an inherent resistance to monopolization. Innovative small enterprises still have bright prospects.