Maintaining crucial cardiac procedures in times of disruption

Covid-19 and Brexit have both caused severe disruptions to the international healthcare market. Individual sectors have been impacted on more than others, but for the European cardiology industry, which is the second largest behind in vitro diagnostic products (IVDs), disrupted supply chains result in crucial operations being missed.

Second only to the United States, the European medtech industry as a whole is estimated to be worth an estimated 120 million EUR. That is more than a quarter of the global market. In the years ahead, cardiology sales in Europe are predicted to occupy around 14% of the worldwide healthcare market, making the region a desirable prospect for the leading names in the business.

However, COVID-19 and Brexit have threatened to derail this prospect.

Changes in legislation as a result of Brexit, such as the updated Medical Device Registration (MDR) requirements and soon-to-be introduced UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark to replace the CE accreditation, have brought with them new procedures to follow and evidence of quality assurance at more levels of the supply chain.

Though COVID-19 has caused the full roll-out of MDR and UKCA to be postponed until May 2021, manufacturers, especially those of high risk equipment like stents, can ill-afford to be under-prepared.

The global pandemic has, perhaps not surprisingly, made device manufacturers apprehensive about what the future has in store, particularly as healthcare systems worldwide now face a backlog of operations. In the UK, for example, delays in cardiology procedures has resulted in 5 000 excess deaths since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Our newly-published video and factsheet provide an overview of the impact on the supply of cardiac, thoracic, and vascular equipment caused by global disruptions.

To learn more about our expertise in maintaining the supply of essential equipment, contact us here.