Israel is well known for its innovative medical devices industry and despite the unfavorable global economic climate this sector has been steadily growing. As of August 2012, there are 656 medical devices companies in Israel which constitute around 60% of the entire life sciences industry. It should be noted, however, that medical devices companies are typically very small and in Israel over 50% of all companies are based on only 5 employees or less. Only 19 companies employ over 100 workers. Most of the companies, almost 70%, have not yet reached the commercial stage and are still at various stages of their product development.
The Israeli medical devices sector consists of 9 sub-sectors, the biggest of which is therapeutics (225 companies) followed by the monitoring & diagnostics sub-sector (141 companies).
The most dominant sub-sector in terms of successful companies and advanced stage companies is the imaging sub-sector. This sector includes one of Israel's well-known and successful medical devices company - Given Imaging. The telemedicine sub-sector, while young, holds a great promise as will be further explained in this research.
After a sharp drop in exports following the economic downturn in 2008, exports of medical devices has been steadily growing during the last years. In 2011 Israel exported over $1.6 billion worth of medical devices mainly to the US, Japan, China and Europe.
The medical devices sector has always held a high risk for investors. Lately, this risk has grown due to uncertainty as to the future economic climate, more stringent regulation (by the FDA) and price pressures. Due to the fact that the US is the largest market for medical devices, FDA marketing approval is vitally important for medical devices companies. The fact that these approvals have become more difficult to obtain, deters some investors from investing before a company overcomes the regulatory hurdle. Generally, these risks are making investors more cautious and less likely to invest in early stage companies. This means that many companies will not make it to the finish line, not necessarily because their products are not good enough but because they do not have enough funds to see it through.
Strong imaging sub-sector in terms of successful companies (7 of which had been acquired by multinational giants) and the number of advanced stages companies.
The global medical devices market was estimated at $322 billion in 2011. The production revenue (export and local sales) of the Israeli medical devices industry in 2011 was $1.8 billion.
Israel is considered a leading country in the field of medical devices. The total number of granted patents in the medical devices area positions Israel in the first place in patents per capita in the world and in the fourth place in absolute number of patents.
656 medical devices companies are active in Israel. Over 50% of the companies are based on 5 employees or less, while only 3% have over 100 employees. Over 65 % of the companies have not yet reached the commercial stage and are still in the seed or R&D stages of development.
In 2011 the Israeli life science industry raised $385 million (not including Government funds). Over 55%, $218 million, were invested in the medical devices sector.
The amount raised by the life sciences industry in 2011 was bigger, in absolute numbers, than that raised in 2010, but the weight of life sciences investments decreased from 28% of all hi-tech investments in 2010 to 18% of all investments in 2011.
In 2011 Israeli medical devices companies exported over $1.6 billion worth of medical devices mainly to the US, Japan, China and Europe.