Stop the Presses! Knee Replacements to Reach $11 Billion (written by Biloine Young @ OTW)
Or, put another way, someone will have to come up with approximately $11 billion to pay for all the new baby boomer knee replacements by 2017. At least that’s the opinion/estimate of the Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet) company. Says Business Wire, demand for knee replacements will likely expand at a compound annual growth rate of 6.8% between 2010 and 2017. Driving that growth is an aging population, rising obesity and the high incidence rates of osteoarthritis.
The most common cause of knee pain, osteoarthritis, affects 14% of adults over 25 years of age or approximately 43 million Americans. Writers of the report expect this number to increase to 67 million by 2030 as the population rises, ages and grows ever more plump.
The leading suppliers of knee replacement parts are, of course, Zimmer Holdings, Inc, DePuy, Inc, and Stryker Corporation. Zimmer, in 2010, had a 26% market share, DePuy, Inc, came in second with a 24% share followed by Stryker with 21%. Following that group are Smith & Nephew plc (Richards), Biomet, Inc, Wright Medical Group, Inc. and Exactech...
