Singapore: Millennium Research Group (MRG) estimates that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices will be launched in Japan during 2013, spurring accelerating growth in the market. MRG also predicted that these products will be used in about 30 percent of total heart valve replacements performed in Japan by 2021.

Although the focus for the next few years will be on transcatheter devices, the conventional heart valve market nonetheless remains large and lucrative. The sizable over-65 demographic combined with rising rates of diabetes and obesity in Japan has created a growing patient pool for heart valve treatments, and many eligible patients will continue to undergo conventional surgical replacement or repair, especially while TAVR remains a relatively new procedure.

The market will, however, be somewhat hindered by lagging economic recovery from the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 and the global economic downturn; this will hinder hospital budgets, particularly in the next few years. While this will impede growth in the surgical heart valve device markets, price erosion will be more than offset by the rapid adoption of premium-priced TAVR devices, resulting in the Japanese heart valve device market growing at a strong pace overall.

Millennium Research Group's Japanese Markets for Heart Valve Devices 2013 report includes unit, procedure, average selling price and revenue information, along with market drivers and limiters and a competitive landscape for heart valve replacement and repair devices in Japan.

Mr Ian Swanson, senior analyst, MRG, said that, "After the US and Europe, Japan represents the next frontier for TAVR devices. Edwards Lifesciences continues to be first-to-market with these products, providing the company with an extremely powerful competitive advantage. Although Medtronic is not too far behind, Edwards Lifesciences holds a particular advantage in Japan where it will offer its smallest-sized version of its Sapien XT TAVR device, which is ideal for Japanese patients."