Pharmacia Deltec leads market - home infusion pumps

Health Industry Today, June, 1991

Pharmacia Deltec Inc., St. Paul, Minn., continues to lead the home infusion pump market by specializing in pumps that deliver antibiotics, chemotherapy and pain management, according to a new study conducted by Medical Products Marketing Services, Glenview, III.

The Swedish-owned company had 39% of the home I.V. pumps in use in 1990 and

                I.V. pump location of usage
Site                         Devices installed   % of total
Patient home                      31,703             67%
Other home care facility             540          1
Nursing home                         811              2
Hospital                           1,775              4
Storage, inventory, repair        11,065             24
Other locations                    1,162              3
TOTAL                             47,086            100
Source: MPMS, Glenview, III.

a 26% market share in 1989, almost doubling its installed base, the report said.

Pharmacia Deltec specializes in pumps for home use, whereas competitors including Baxter Healthcare Corp., Deerfield, Ill., and Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill., make pumps for both the hospital and home markets. Pharmacia Deltec's narrow concentration has enabled the company to dominate the home infusion market, according to Steven J. Fuller, executive vice president, MPMS.

Baxter and AVi are Pharmacia Deltec's closest competitors for I.V. pumps in use, both with 11% market share. They are followed by McGaw, Abbott IMED and IVAC. Pumps manufactured by Pharmacia Deltec, AVI and Baxter comprise 60% of the 47,056 devices in use.

Manufacturers with less than 2% market share (less than 1,000 devices in use) are Parker-Hannifin, Infusaid, Cormed, Ivion, Becton Dickinson, Graseby Medical, Siemens Medical Systems, Critikon, Diatek Enteroport, IMS Limited and Med-Tech.

Like Pharmacia Deltec, AVI doubled its installed base between 1989 and 1990 and increased its market share to 11% from 7%. Of the leading manufacturers, IMED suffered the worst decline, falling to 8% market share in 1990 from 12% in 1989. Abbott and IVAC experienced increases.

Planned purchases

One in three respondents plans to acquire I.V. pumps in the next six months. Their average lite span is about five years, after which they are disposed, Fuller said. The second-hand market for home I.V. pumps is virtually non-existent.

Of the respondents who named a manufacturer from which they expect to purchase, 40% said they would purchase models from Pharmacia Deltec. Pharmacia Deltec's most widely installed model is its CADD-Plus 5400. Baxter's pump and Abbott's Pancretec pump each were mentioned about 25% of the time. Other manufacturers frequently mentioned were AVI, Intelligent Medicine and Quest Medical.

Home care pumps are bought as needed, in contrast to pumps used in hospitals that are kept in inventory.

The pump feature named as the most important was ease of use, which included easier programming, improvements for easier learning and improvements for easier teaching to patients and nurses. Alarms and safety features also were mentioned.

Medical applications

I.V. pumps are used to deliver a variety of applications. Total parenteral nutrition is the most widely-administered therapy at home, followed by antibiotics, pain management and chemotherapy.

Of the 47,056 pumps found to be in use by home care patients, nearly half of thrm were used for TPN. A slightly smaller fraction were used for hydration and less than a third of all devices were cited as used for antibiotics. One-quarter to one-third were used for pain management and chemotherapy, the survey found.

AVI leads in pumps used for TPN applications with 20% of those devices, followed closely by Baxter with 19% and McGraw with 18%. Interestingly, Pharmacia Deltec does not make pumps used for TPN. The company has a 47% share of all devices used for antibiotics, 63% of those used for chemotherapy and 73% of those used for pain management.

Market predictions

The home infusion pump market will continue to grow, according to surveyed respondents. Factors cited most often as contributing to this expansion were the overall growth in home care industry and increased medical applications of pain management, TPN, antibiotics and chemotherapy. Other factors cited were shorter hospital stays, physician awareness of home care and AIDS.

[TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

Sixty-three percent of the respondents believe the demand for I.V. pumps in the home care setting will continue to increase. About 26% said demand will stay at a constant level.

But while demands is high for home infusion pumps, smaller home care organizations providing home infusion therapy, especially pharmacies, may leave the market. This is because their businesses are obtaining little or no reimbursement from insurance carries. They also are having trouble competing against the larger home healthcare agencies, which have dominated the market in the sales and rental of I.V. pumps.

"I would be surprised if a little local operation could hang in for five to 10 years," Fuller said.