Billions of patients worldwide benefit from a diverse range of medical devices. The global medical device market in 2011 was approximately $300 billion and is predicted to grow by 4% per year to reach over $400 billion by 2018. Specifically, the European medical device market is estimated to make up 30% of global sales (i.e. $100 billion) and is second only to the US which makes up 40% of the market.
A medical device is an implant, implement, instrument, apparatus, in vitro reagent or other similar article that can diagnose, prevent, monitor, treat and alleviate disease.
