Medical Devices
The Ministry of Food & Drug Safety of South Korea announced on May 25 that the local medical device output reached 5.6025 trillion won (US$5.0 billion) last year with a year-on-year growth of 12%. For reference, the growth rate of the local manufacturing sector as a whole was 2.3% during the same period and the local medical device output showed an average annual increase of 9.6% for the past five years.
Specifically, the dental implant production volume totaled 840.7 billion won (US$756 million), followed by ultrasonic imaging system of 460 billion won (US$414 million)) and filler as a biomaterial for tissue repair of 188.7 billion won (US$169 million). The filler production volume jumped 72.7% as more and more people became interested in beauty care and the dental implant production volume increased by 29.7% as the national health insurance began to cover the item more extensively than before.
By manufacturer, Osstem Implant topped the list with 649.3 billion won (US$584 million) while Samsung Medison and GE Ultrasound Korea ranked second and third with 238.6 billion won (US$214 million) and 155.8 billion won (US$140 million), respectively.
Medical device exports from South Korea totaled US$2.9 billion last year, up 7.7% from a year ago. The country’s medical device export growth rate averaged more than 10% for the past five years. Ultrasonic imaging system exports reached US$519.3 million last year, followed by dental implant (US$175.8 million) and soft contact lens (US$149.39 million).