Report on worldwide status of nanomedicine

9 June 2006

MedMarket Diligence has released a report on the worldwide status of development and market for micro- and nanomedicine. "The product and market development of nanotechnology and MEMS cover an incredibly diverse range of technologies, scientific disciplines, products and applications," says Patrick Driscoll, President of MedMarket Diligence (MMD). "And this has previously precipitated some wildly optimistic forecasts of market potential, yet the reality is that there are in fact many current, commercially established biomedical applications of nanotech and MEMS that are finally grounding some of the potential in real market success."

According to Driscoll, a market worth more than $1bn exists for these technologies, predominantly in MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), but steady growth is building toward hundred-fold larger markets by 2015, with nanotech applications contributing a lion's share.

As of May 2006, around 150 of the largest companies in the world had structured nanotechnology initiatives (i.e. research projects or product development plans) but that number may rise to around 300 over the next two or three years. With such enormous private investment being added to federal investment in the U.S. and similar government investment by other countries, there is a solid financial foundation for biomedical nanotechnology and MEMS market development.

Currently established MEMS applications include pacemakers, glucose monitoring, biochips (genechips), OTC tests, insulin pumps, nebulizers, needleless injectors, hearing aids, activity monitors, blood pressure, medical flow sensors, and drug delivery systems.

In nanomedicine, current applications include cancer chemotherapy, a new generation of drug delivery systems, wound dressings that exploit the antimicrobial properties of nanocrystalline silver, and others.

The MedMarket Diligence report is an assessment of the products and technologies under development of medical technologies at the nanometer scale and micrometer scale, and an assessment of the market potential for products/technologies to be successfully commercialized for use in clinical practice within a ten year forecast period. The report provides a review of companies active in nanotechnology and MEMS development, with profiles of over 100 companies.

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