Cornea Products Market to Grow an Estimated 6.1 Percent Through 2025

 

Expanding use of products to treat many corneal diseases will increase the role of devices and surgery in the cornea treatment landscape. Over 1 billion people are affected by 50 corneal diseases that cause cornea impairment, including corneal ectasias, dystrophies, keratitis, trauma, congenital, and infectious diseases.

The global market for cornea products will be driven by continued adoption of crosslinking, improved access to care for cornea patients, more use of birth tissue grafts, and continuing growth and innovation in cornea transplants.

Market Scope estimates the United States to be the largest market and China to be the fastest-growing market, with revenue rising in China at a CAGR of 7.1 percent from 2020 to 2025.

Device developments will help drive global revenue to $1.1 billion by 2025, up 6.1 percent from nearly $790 million in pandemic-impacted 2020.

Cornea transplant patients and surgeons have faced a unique set of challenges during the pandemic, and we have subsequently reduced our forecasts for cornea transplants by 21.6 percent. The effect of global travel limitations and subsequent decreased cornea donation could lead to a major shortage of donor tissue.

Revenue from transplants accounts for an estimated 71.3 percent of the global market for cornea products. While it is illegal to charge for human tissues, eye banks charge to account for costs of cornea recovery, processing, storage, evaluation, eligibility determination, and distribution.

Corneal crosslinking procedures will drive an estimated 10.6 percent of global revenue, driven largely by continued adoption in the US. We estimate that therapeutic lenses and birth tissue grafts will account for 6.8 percent and 6.2 percent of global revenue, respectively. Intrastromal corneal ring segments (ICRS) and phototherapeutic keratectomy procedures account for the remaining 5.1 percent of revenue.

Market Scope’s debut “2020 Cornea Products Market Report” analyzes the latest trends in these devices. Though transplants will provide the largest share of revenue, we expect strong growth in corneal crosslinking revenue. This market report includes in-depth coverage of the crosslinking landscape. Although adoption at ophthalmic practices is accelerating, a large backlog of keratoconus patients remains.

A significant portion of the population affected by corneal diseases lack access to ophthalmic care. We estimate over 314 million people are affected with corneal dystrophies, driven largely by a high prevalence of Fuchs’ dystrophy and epithelium basement membrane dystrophy. Globally, Fuchs’ is a leading indication for corneal transplants. Over 24 percent of Fuchs’ dystrophy transplants are performed in the US.

Market Scope looks for much of the growth in the cornea industry to occur in emerging economies, especially China and India. With a combined population of 2.7 billion, these two markets account for about 35.4 percent of the world’s population, 24.8 percent of the ophthalmologists, and nearly 21.7 percent of cornea surgeons. While procedures will experience strong growth, total revenue growth will be offset by much lower pricing in these countries.