The Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, SAWC, the official meeting of the Wound Healing Society, was held virtually May 10-14 and SmartTRAK attended.

Following is a sampling of some of the takeaways from the meeting that were gathered and curated by our expert analysts and sent out to subscribers in our Daily Updates.

A year of turbulence as COVID-19 affects the WW Advanced Wound Care market at different times and in a variety of ways throughout the year.

For FY20, according to BioMedGPS’ SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard, WW Advanced Wound Care (AWC) revenue for Advanced Dressings, External Devices and Biologics was down -1.9% YoY. Q420 grew +1.0%, reflecting the gradual recovery in the market.

Among the many topics covered in the comprehensive Q420/FY20 Advanced Wound Care Market Recap* are:

Anticipated growth for Q4 was weakened by a resurgence of COVID-19 and was not enough to sustain growth with FY20 ending at -3.3% YoY decline.

For FY20, according SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard, the US Infection Prevention - Vascular Access (VA) Adjunct Products market was down -3.3% YoY, while Q420 revenue was up  +1.2% YoY.

The prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs) continues to drive measures and practices to reduce Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSIs) and is creating demand for products that can address these issues. Numerous programs and educational tools are being developed to provide measures and strategies that assist healthcare providers in the prevention and reduction of infection in acute care and other settings.

Among the many topics covered in the comprehensive Q420/FY20 Infection Prevention: US Vascular Access Adjunct Market* are:

Ragna Ouwerkerk, PR Manager at Mediq, discusses the Company and its recent acquisitions in an interview with SmartTRAK.

Mergers and acquisitions have become an attractive business strategy for companies in the wound care space considering to expand into new markets or territories, reach a competitive edge or obtain new technologies. One company looking to strengthen its leadership position in the European wound care market through acquisitions is  Mediq.

Mediq is a Dutch healthcare company founded in 1899 by ninety-one pharmacists as a type of buying group to check the quality of raw materials and medicines. In 2021, Mediq provides pharmaceuticals and medical devices to patients and healthcare facilities globally. Recently, the Company decided to take a major step forward and has had a flurry of acquisitions in the last few months of which some strengthened the presence of the company in some European countries and another helped to enter the UK market.

SmartTRAK: The Company has recently acquired Medirum AB in Sweden, Puls AS in Norway, H&R Healthcare Ltd in the UK, GD Medical AG in Switzerland and Replant 4 Care in Hungary. Mediq also intends to acquire Eurocept Homecare and Da Vinci Kliniek in the Netherlands. What was your thinking behind those acquisitions?

The recovery in breast and hernia procedure stalled in Q420, with revenue dropping -9.2% YoY, according to BioMedGPS’ SmartTRAK Financial Dashboard. AbbVie* maintained its lead despite the effects of the pandemic, off -8.4% YoY, as its breast matrices continued to lag in the overall recovery. Becton Dickinson* (BD) slid –1.2% YoY as hernia procedures bounced back to normal levels a little faster ...

Among the many topics covered in the comprehensive Q420/FY20 US Surgical Matrices Market Recap* are:

Facing the prevailing headwinds of the pandemic, the MedTech industry presses on with product innovation and plans for the future. SmartTRAK reports daily on the challenges still ahead, covering all aspects of the Wound Care market, including Advanced Wound Care, Conventional Wound Care, Infection Prevention, Biosurgery, Surgical Matrices, EU and ROW Advanced Dressings and EU Negative Pressure Wound Therapy.

The following is just a small sampling of the Wound Care updates from around the world compiled, reviewed and posted in real time last week by our SmartTRAK analysts. We constantly monitor the worldwide MedTech industry, sifting through the noise to present to our subscribers the most relevant international news, patents, trends, new products, financial data and competitor developments in the global Life Sciences industry.

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Patents:

• Medtronic*
  Medtronic’s US Patent Application “POWERED SURGICAL TACK APPLIER” was published, describing a powered system for surgical tack application for hernia repair. 20210045740

SmartTRAK analyzes how COVID-19 and vaccinations will impact the US Advanced Wound Care Market in 2021.

The impact of COVID-19 on life in the US and its onslaught into the US health care system began in mid-March. CMS and the American College of Surgeons recommended that hospitals, physicians and clinics halt all non-essential medical and surgical procedures, including the treatment of many types of wounds. However, the continual care of a chronic wound is essential for patients to ensure it is on the correct trajectory to heal. Typically, clinicians treat chronic wounds at least once a week to assess the progress of the wound, provide debridement and/or apply CTPs (skin substitutes). The hospital outpatient department (HOPD) wound clinics have been the primary site-of-care to treat these wounds but with the closing of several of these facilities during the initial COVID surge, many patients with chronic wounds were not seen, delayed treatment or began the transfer to the physician office for treatment. In fact, there is some evidence that wounds increased in severity since the start of the pandemic resulting in greater use of higher technology products and unfortunately, an increase in amputations.

The most significant impact on the market occurred in April/May 2020 when several states went into lock down and most, if not all, elective procedures were cancelled. SmartTRAK analyzed the Advanced Wound Care market back in April with the assumption that the peak of COVID-19 would occur during April/May and would slowly return to normal in a v-shaped or hockey-stick shaped recovery. However, data show COVID-19 did not peak solely in the April/May time frame ...

SmartTRAK reviews the impact and underlying reasons behind the high turnover rate among CEOs in the wound care market.

At the end of November 2020, Zlatko Rihter assumed his role as the new CEO for Mölnlycke*, which means that all top four Advanced Wound Care players now have CEOs with less than three years in office. As a matter of fact, seven or eight of the top 10 players have appointed new CEOs in the last three years, depending on how you count Acelity being acquired by 3M.

The average time in office for a CEO among the 2,500 largest public companies is around seven years. Most of the transitions are planned (70%), some are forced out (15%), and some are consequences of mergers (15%). In US hospitals, the turnover rate among CEOs is close to six years.

While the reason for replacing the CEO is sometimes not clear, in most cases it is. SmartTRAK reviews what is behind the transition in CEOs at the top wound care companies and what it means for the Advanced Wound Care market, which is estimated to be have generated $7.4B in the last 12 months according to SmartTRAK forecasts.

SmartTRAK reviews the 2020 Virtual EWMA meeting covering the impact of COVID-19, the growing use of digital tools and emerging technologies 

For the first time, the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) annual meeting, held November 18 – 19^th 2020, was an all-virtual event. As the premier wound care conference in Europe, EWMA 2020 showcased the latest news and trends in the market for European Advanced Wound Dressings, which is projected to reach $1.8B in 2020 according to SmartTRAK estimates. It turned into a truly global event thanks to the format that welcomed 9,758 registered participants from 113 countries from all over the world.

SmartTRAK examines the Top 5 countries in Europe during the time of COVID-19 and estimates how the Advanced Wound Dressing Market will be impacted in 2020 and 2021.

Using an elbow bump instead of a handshake or hug is not the only new routine people have learned during the pandemic. As winter arrives with an expected surge in COVID-19, healthcare systems and services in Europe are building on lessons learned from the spring outbreak to help shape the way health services will be delivered in the coming months.

Amid this pandemic, several factors are affecting growth in the European Advanced Dressings Market, which is projected to reach ~$2.07B (€1.85B) by 2024 according to SmartTRAK estimates. In this article, SmartTRAK reviews how the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved in Europe and how it is impacting the market for Advanced Dressings in France, Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy.