The Growth of 3D Printing in the Healthcare Market

When talking about 3D printing technology, the healthcare industry can be considered as one of the fastest growing markets wherein they have already created various medical applications that use 3D printing. With the developments presented in producing prosthetic devices, bioprinting, as well as medical implants, it looks like the industry will continuously progress for the coming years. Though you can consider these things as simple innovation, with its constant maturity, you will surely realize that these can grow bigger.

IndustryARC released a new report on how the 3D printing medical industry is divided into a number of categories and subcategories. This will include the technologies being used in laser beam melting, Stereolithography, electron beam melting, and fused deposition modeling. There is also a section that talks about the materials that can be used in the healthcare industry such as resins, metals, and biological components like cells. They have also discussed the application of 3D printing in creating tissue bioprinting and medical implants.

The Growth of the Healthcare Market

The healthcare market has recorded total revenue of $487 million as of 2014 and it is expected to increase by 18.3% until 2020 according to IndustryARC. The rapid growth of the healthcare market is due to the availability of 3D printing technology applied in medical use. There is a significant growth in various areas like drug manufacturing, dental applications, and medical implants. For dental implants, the commonly used material is ceramics perfect for creating dental crowns. In the case of the medical research industry, they have created their own biomaterials.

The total revenue for the medical 3D printing materials for 2014 is $284.7 million that is expected to grow faster. On the other hand, for dental and medical 3D printing materials, there will be a growth of 19.1% by 2020. The materials that are frequently used for healthcare industry are ceramics, metals, plastics, bone cement, cells, and biomaterials. You will notice that biomaterials and metal powders are expensive however with the improvement of our technology prices will be reduced once these materials become well-known.

With the demand for products in maxillofacial surgery and orthopedics, the growth of medical 3D printing industry is more likely possible. Aside from that, there is also an ongoing progress in 3D bioprinting wherein tissues will be generated and can be used for replacing tissue and organs in the future. Because there is an increasing demand for government subsidy programs as well as research grants for medical bioprinting, the costs of 3D printing technology will be lessened.

North America is considered to be the top consumer of 3D printing in the healthcare industry. Second is Europe, where 3D printing is applied in medical 3D printing and next, is the Asia-Pacific market. Despite the fact that the market of APAC is smaller than North America, you will notice that there is a fast growth with its market compared to America and Europe. The growth of 3D printing technology for medical and healthcare industry caused by major companies such as the Microfab Technologies, 3D Systems, nScrypt, Stratasys, Invetech, EnvisionTEC, Tevido BioDevices, and Digilab.