A Class I recall of endotracheal tubes has been ongoing since Medtronic first sent out a safety notice on its devices in 2022. It has recently devolved into notices to immediately cease using all neural integrity monitor standard and contact electromyogram endotracheal tubes due to the risk of tube blockages.
This product removal will have a clear detriment to Medtronic sales in the endotracheal tubes market - worth $478.3 million in 2023 and expected to reach $730.1 million in 2033 with a compound annual growth rate of 4.32%, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
While it is likely that Medtronic will still dominate the endotracheal tube market, the incident is expected to have a noticeable effect on future sales, and result in increases in the market shares of its competitors.
The usage of endotracheal tubes has been growing in emergency and pre-hospital settings. The drivers for growth can be attributed to the similar drivers of the all-encompassing intubation system market. The increased global burden of diseases, along with technological advancements allowing for multiple surgeries in shorter periods, as well as the influx of investment in the market, have all fostered growth for airway management devices and in turn, the endotracheal tube market.
An increase in non-surgical applications for airway management has also shown more demand as the patient population for chronic respiratory diseases grows due to growing geriatric populations, rising obesity rates and exposure to air pollutants.
Medtronic currently dominates the endotracheal tube market, occupying 75% of the space, while its competitors Teleflex and ConvaTec make up 9.6% and 6.3% of the market respectively. While Medtronic looks to mitigate the losses incurred because of this recall, its major competitors may benefit by increasing their positions in the endotracheal tube market, as a certain portion of customers may look for more reliable products going forward.