ZogoMedical.com: Medical Manufacturers

A person in his/her lifetime gets sick a number of times due to various reasons and seek doctors help to get cured. On the verge of getting cured, several medical examinations are performed and several drugs are prescribed by the doctors. However, have we ever for a minute thought about who are the manufacturers of all these medical equipments and drugs that help us in getting diagnosed and cured? Only a few people might have thought about this and know who the manufacturers are.

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if these manufacturers were not there? Medical manufacturers play a vital role in getting people diagnosed, assist the doctors to identify the problem and decide on the nature of treatment required. These manufacturers are also a lifesaver.

There are a lot of medical manufacturers worldwide. In this article we will name a few top medical manufactures and provide information about them.

Johnson and Johnson

The top manufacturer in the pharma sector is Johnson and Johnson ^{^[1]}. The company dominates the world pharma market. Among biggest medical device makers are Philips, GE and Siemens, while smaller outfits includes Boston Scientific and Medtronic¹.

Johnson & Johnson is a headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey ^{^[2]} and has 250 subsidiary companies [3]. The Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment of Johnson & Johnson providing products for the treatment of heart disease to diabetes conditions includes companies such as Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, J&J Vision Care, LifeScan, Ethicon, Ethicon Endo-Surgery and DePuy. Its sales in 2010 was $23.6 billion². In 2011, the company's revenue from its medical device and diagnostics business was $65 billion³. Johnson & Johnson was consistently ranked as the top company at Harris Interactive’s National Corporate Reputation Survey. Barron's Magazine also ranked it as the most respected company. Johnson & Johnson operates in 57 countries, while its products are sold in more than 175 countries³.

Siemens Healthcare

Siemens Healthcare is a Munich based company. The parent company was formed in 1847 under the name Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company, which later became Siemens AG [4]. Siemens Healthcare's revenue in 2009 was 17.3 billion and its profit was $2.2 billion. The healthcare unit of the company specializes on oncology, neurology, cardiology and surgery. Worldwide the healthcare unit employees approximately 48,000 people⁴.

GE Healthcare

A subsidiary of General Electric Company is GE Healthcare. GE Healthcare is headquartered in Fairfield, CT [5]. The company has a strong presence in areas including neurology, oncology, emergency medicine, women's health and cardiology. GE formed an alliance with Geron to launch the first human cellular assay product to be used in toxicity screening and drug discovery⁵.

Medtronic

Another Minneapolis based medical manufacturer is Medtronic [6]. Medtronic concentrates on medical equipments including stents, spinal devices, defibrillators and pacemakers. Bexter health care is a renowned medical manufacturer. The Deerfield based company was founded in 1931. The first commercially prepared intravenous solutions was manufactured by Baxter Healthcare and this makes the company very much well known in the medical manufacturer field⁶.

Philips healthcare

Philips healthcare is a Netherlands based company. It is headquartered in Amsterdam [7]. Philips healthcares presence is noted in women's health, oncology and cardiology. Philips healthcare, Siemens healthcare and GE Healthcare dominates the global MRI market⁷. Among the oldest medical manufacturers is Abbot Laboratories. Abbot Laboratories was formed by Wallace Abbot in 1888. Wallace Abbot started operation by producing dosimetric granules[8]. Abbot is well known for selling its Xience V stent which in a study showed to prevent heart attacks with lesser complications. Abbot Laboratories has been ranked 8th among the top ten pharmaceutical companies all over the world [9]. In 1985, Abbot Laboratories is also the first company to developed screening test for HIV. Medical equipments of Abbot Laboratories are used to monitor and diagnose diseases including hepatitis, heart failure, cancer, metabolic disorders and HIV⁹.

Covidien

Covidien is a well known company for its energy devices, products for soft tissue repairs and endomechanical instruments. The company was formerly known as Tyco Healthcare until June 2007[10]. Have you ever wondered who supplies the surgical blades, needles and syringes? In many hospitals this is supplied by Becton Dickinson[11]. The company is currently headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey and was formed in 1897 by Maxwell Becton and Farileigh Dickinson after meeting during a sales trip.

Pfizer

Pfizer is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. The company focuses on developing and producing vaccines and medicines in areas including metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, pain, neuroscience, oncology and immunology and inflammation [12]. F Hoffmann-La Roche is a Switzerland based company focusing on innovative therapeutics and diagnostics. The company is headquartered in Basel and has several diagnostic and pharmaceutical sites across the globe¹².

Novartis

Another Switzerland based pharmaceutical company is Novartis¹². The company operates in 140 countries. There are about 6,000 physicians and scientists working for this company and plays a vital role in bio medical and biological research.

GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline is a British health care company. Its product portfolio includes disease areas such as virus control, cancer, mental health, digestive conditions, diabetes and asthma¹². The company also has a large healthcare division which concentrates on producing nutritional and healthcare products.

Sanofi

Sanofi is a well known French company. The company was formed in 2004 under the name Sanofi-Aventis and it changed its name to Sanofi in 2011¹². The operation of the company covers research and development, develop over the counter medication, and manufacture and market pharmaceutical products. The core areas the company concentrate on are central nervous system, oncology, thrombosis and vaccines, internal medicine, diabetes and cardiovascular.

Now you know the names of some of the top medical manufacturers around the world. These companies have devoted themselves to research and development of diseases and its cures. They have also played vital role in manufacturing life saving drugs and equipments without which human life would have been difficult. It is also for them that you are able to lead a normal and healthy life. So the next time you are sick or come out of the hospital after treatment, do not forget to thank all these companies along with your doctors!

Abstract: The medical manufacturers have a vital role in getting people diagnosed, assist the doctors to identify the problem and decide on the nature of treatment required. These manufacturers, along with the doctors are true lifesavers. There are a lot of medical manufacturers worldwide. Among many others, there are Johnson and Johnson, Siemens Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Philips healthcare, Covidien, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi. All these companies are working hard in order to serve the patients.