Synex Korea Medical Device Market Report - Wound Dressings 2023

As of 2022, the total market size of the wound dressings in Korea is estimated to be approximately USD *** million, about an increase of ***% compared to the previous year. Reimbursement volume is estimated to be approximately USD *** million - around ***% of the entire market.
Afterwards, it is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of at least **% and as a result, the market size is projected to be approximately USD *** million in 2026. Reimbursement volume is projected to be USD *** million - around ***% of the entire market.
In 2021, the total wound dressing market in Korea is estimated as approximately USD *** million. This is an average annual growth of ***% from USD *** million in 2018, including the non-reimbursement part and the final purchase prices of retail distribution channels such as pharmacies and medical device stores. The reimbursement volume is estimated to be approximately USD *** million, accounting for about ***% of the wound dressing market.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety classifies wound dressings as a subcategory of Group B Medical Supplies. There were eighteen product names in total but three product names including Secondary Healing Saline Wound Dressing, Interaction Wound Dressing, and Warm-Sealed Wound Dressing were removed from the Product Notification after the Enforcement Decree on 20 November 2019. Therefore, they are not covered in detail in this report (cf. the MFDS Notification No. 2019-109).
Adhesion barrier dressings (product classification number B07070.14) are classified as wound dressings with the intended use of preventing adhesions of tissues and organs inside the body, but since their function is anti-adhesion, they are also excluded from this report.
In the same vein, Synthetic Material-Absorbable Wound Dressings (product classification number B07070.18), also known as endoscopic surgical hemostatic agents, are not included in this report. For Eugenol Periodontal Wound Dressings (product classification number B07070.17), there are no companies or products registered with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, so they are not discussed in detail either.
One of the natures of the wound dressings is that a significant amount of them are used to patients with chronic diseases across multiple departments. Therefore, in order to obtain the most accurate figures possible, duplicate data are eliminated and stricter standards are applied than the previous 2019 report.
Readers who have already read the previous report may have questions about the decreased reimbursement volume. We encourage you to read this report after understanding the reasons described above.
Rather than comparing the reduced numbers to the previous report one-to-one, we recommend that our readers use this report to understand the overall trend of the wound dressing market. At a macro level, the wound dressing market continues to grow, but there have been several changes among the major players. From 2020 to 2022 the market has grown around Mepilex products of Mölnlycke and Pico of Smith & Nephew has seemed to gain momentum after 3M's acquisition of KCI. Detailed explanations are in Chapter 4 and 5.
Total wound dressing volume consumed by medical institutions appears to be as follows: hospital *** million units (***%), general hospital *** million units (***%), and tertiary hospital *** million units (***%). Hospitals and general hospitals use the largest amount of wound dressings. In terms of reimbursement volume by end-user type in 2021, tertiary-referral hospitals account for the largest portion around USD *** million (***%). General hospitals around about USD *** million (***%) and hospitals around USD *** million (***%) follow.
The number of wound dressings consumed by medical department is estimated as follows: General surgery at least *** million units (***%), orthopedic surgery at least *** million units (***%), and internal medicine at least *** million units (***%). In terms of the amount of reimbursement claims by medical department, it is estimated that internal medicine about USD *** million (***%), orthopedic surgery about USD *** million (***%), general surgery about USD *** million (***%), and plastic surgery about USD *** million (***%).
In 2022, *** manufacturers/importers play a part in the wound dressing market of Korea and this is more than ***% annual growth on average compared to 2018. The top *** companies account for approximately ***% of the whole market.
In terms of the market size by medical institutions' purchase prices is as follows. Mölnlycke Health Care USD *** million (***%), Smith&Nephew USD *** million (***%), Mundipharma USD *** million (***%), Ildong Pharmaceutical USD *** million (***%), Juthis USD *** million (***%), Daewoong Pharmaceutical/CGbio USD *** million (***%), Coloplast USD *** million (***%), Convatec USD *** million (***%), 3M USD *** million (***%), and others USD *** million (***%).
Among all the wound dressings, foam dressings still appear to lead the market. For non-reimbursement volume, topical-application medical devices (so-called "MD creams") are growing fast. These products are listed as 'skin protectors' on the National Health Insurance Product Group. Since the government does not control the selling prices, the suppliers have the power to determine them, and both the suppliers and the medical institutions perceive them as a relatively high-profit business. Therefore, not only those traditional pharmaceutical companies but also large companies of the cosmetics industry have entered the market, so intense competition is expected in the future.
The National Health Insurance Service is a double-edged sword, both an opportunity and a threat to the wound dressing market. The Park Geun-hye administration introduced select reimbursement and the Moon Jae-in administration introduced reserve reimbursement. In the name of expanding coverage, many wound dressings that were previously classified as non-reimbursement products were converted to reimbursement products, and the selling prices of the products were lowered.
Before the conversion, the suppliers were free to determine the selling prices of the non-reimbursement products. However, after converting non-reimbursement products to reimbursement products of the NHIS Reimbursement Therapeutics Materials List, reimbursement maximums are introduced prohibiting the sales of the products above the upper limit. It is expected that the the government's conversion of non-reimbursement products into reimbursement products will continue and there will be significant ripple effect on the wound dressing market depending on the changes of reimbursement criteria.
The number of wound dressing products (in terms of the Therapeutic Materials Product Group Code) notified in the NHIS RTMM Formulary continues to fluctuate year by year. It decreased from *** in 2018 to *** in 2020, and then increased again to *** in 2022. However, the number of non-reimbursement products continues to decrease, from *** in 2018 to 12 in 2022, an average annual decrease of ***% over the past 4 years. Therefore, it can be said that most products of the current wound dressing market are within the scope of reimbursement coverage.