Post-Pandemic SCS and PNS Markets Due to Intensify
by James Cavuoto, editor and Jeremy Koff, senior consulting editor
February 2021 issue
The market for implanted pain neuromodulation devices is expected to rebound precipitously later this year and in subsequent years, according to a new market research report from the editors of Neurotech Reports. The report, entitled The Market for Pain Neuromodulation: 2021-2026, offers a detailed forecast of implanted spinal cord stimulation systems and peripheral nerve stimulation systems.
The neuromodulation industry is still in the process of recovering from the coronavirus pandemic that confronted the industry in 2020. Nearly all of the major players and new entrants to the industry were impacted severely by the pandemic, with negative year-over-year growth rates reaching 30 to 50 percent at some companies and in some reporting periods.
A major factor in the revenue declines in 2020 and 2021 was the fact that many hospitals labeled neuromodulation device implantations to be “nonessential,” even though the needs of patients suffering from chronic pain and other neurological disorders did not take a holiday during the pandemic. One issue that many hospitals have identified is that even after the resumption of elective surgeries, the bottleneck created by the hiatus will likely delay a full rebound in neuromodulation device implantations for several months. Another impact on hospitals is that their operating margins have dropped considerably since the onset of the pandemic. This is likely to put some price pressure on vendors of neuromodulation systems in the short term.
For example, Nevro reported that nearly 200 scheduled U.S. permanent implant procedures were cancelled in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the majority occurring in the month of December. In late November and all of December, reductions in both trials and perms were caused by a combination of patient reluctance to move forward due to COVID-related issues and facility constraints on elective procedures due to COVID resurgence in specific geographies.
Despite these setbacks, the report’s authors believe that sales of implanted neuromodulation systems will reach 2019 levels this year, as the availability of multiple vaccines deadens the impact of the pandemic and hospitals lift the hold on elective surgeries. Neurotech Reports editors conducted interviews with several dozen implanting clinicians, drawn from the four clinical specialties most involved with implanted neuromodulation devices: interventional anesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation (physiatry), neurosurgery, and orthopedic surgery.
Aside from the emergence from the pandemic, several other factors will contribute to the resurgence of the pain neuromodulation market. These include the availability of new technologies such as Saluda Medical’s closed-loop stimulation and Medtronic’s DTM platform, the impact of new vendors such as Nalu and Mainstay, and the emergence of new indications, such as Nevro’s foray into diabetic neuropathy. Several of the clinicians Neurotech Reports spoke to related that they are receiving an increasing number of referrals from primary care physicians, which is indicative of the growing awareness of neuromodulation therapies. By contrast, five years ago fewer referrals came from primary care doctors and instead came from specialists such as ortho/spine doctors.
Neurotech Reports forecasts that the worldwide market for SCS systems will grow from $2.52 billion in 2021 to $5.75 billion in 2026, an 18 percent compound annual growth rate. The market for PNS systems will grow from 54 million in 2021 to $333 million in 2026, a CAGR of 44 percent.
The Market for Pain Neuromodulation: 2021-2026 is available now. For more information, contact Neurotech Reports at 415 546 1259 or click this link:
https://www.neurotechreports.com/pages/mnmsumm.html.
