Medical 3D printing is a fast growing market and growth is expected to continue in the future as the technology is replacing traditional prototype development approaches across various industries. The overall 3D printing market was valued at over $13bn by the end of 2019, and is expected to increase to $32bn by 2025, and over $60bn by 2030, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Tina Deng, MSc, Principal Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The medical 3D printing market is set to follow a steep growth curve for the next few years. The market is driven by technology innovation, increased awareness from healthcare practitioners and an aging population with a consequent increase in demand for personalized treatment. The medical applications for 3D printing cover many disciplines and continue to accumulate.”

GlobalData found that current hospital uses of 3D printing span cardiovascular, orthopedic, colorectal, liver, ENT and urologic applications. 3D printing has been used for custom-made medical devices, including hearing aids, dental implants, joint replacements, and artificial limbs.

Deng continues: “The 3D printed titanium implants, Modulus from NuVasive, is among the top five interbody products in the spinal fusion market. Additionally, 3D printing is playing a growing role in medical training and surgical guides. Stratasys launched its J750 Digital Anatomy 3D Printer in late 2019 and quickly gained interest from clinical users for its strong anatomical modelling function.

“One of the promising areas of medical 3D printing is expected to be biologic printing, which processes biomaterials to create tissue and organs. EnvisionTEC is the leader in bioprinting technology with printers typically costing more than $200,000. The other market leader, Organovo, restructured to use its 3D printed tissues for disease modelling and drug discovery instead of developing therapeutic liver tissue. Raising research and development (R&D) and flexible government policies will be driving the future biologic 3D printing market.”