Pen needles are used to inject medication (most commonly to inject insulin in diabetic patients). Pen needles offer various advantages over conventional needle and syringe device such as they aid in self-administration of the medication and do not require expertise. Pen needles are screwed to injection pens through plastic hub and has the required quantity of medication in it. This gets injected through the pen. There are different sizes of pen needle available depending upon the length and gauge. Different length available are 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10 mm, and 12mm. Gauge size decides the thickness of pen needle, higher the gauge number, lesser is the thickness. Various gauges with pen needles are 29G, 30G, 31G and 32G. Most advanced pen needles are ultra-fine needles, which are painless and reaches optimally in subcutaneous layer beneath skin, whereas larger size needles such as 8mm and 12 mm may have risk to reach intramuscular layer beneath skin if not inserted properly.

Pen Needles Market- Market Dynamics

Rising prevalence of diabetes is one of the major drivers for growth of the pen needles market. According to the International Diabetes Federation’s (IDF) Diabetes Atlas 2017, around 425 million patients were suffering from diabetes worldwide by end of 2017. By 2045, this figure is expected to reach around 629 million. Moreover, over 40% people are still undiagnosed with diabetes especially in regions such as Asia Pacific and Middle East and some part of North Africa. Some of these patients require insulin therapy, which in turn would propel growth of the market for pen needles. Diabetes is one of the top three cause of death from non-communicable disease as per World Health Organization (WHO) 2012 factsheet. The average patient with type-2 diabetes injects around 60,000 units over a period of 10-12 years of insulin treatment. Increasing geriatric population is expected to be another driver for pen needles market growth as older people need insulin therapy more often due to suppressed pancreatic activity with aging. As per current IDF estimation, there were 98 million diabetic people in 2017 over the age of 65 years, which is expected to rise to 191 million by 2045.

Novel therapies to treat diabetes such as GLP analogs are increasingly been launched by pharmaceutical companies. These GLP-1 analogs are administered in a manner similar to insulin therefore utilizes pen needles. For instance, Novo Nordisk, in October 2017, received FDA approval for once-a-week GLP-1 analog named semaglutide.GLP-1 analogs are also increasingly preferred in obese patients, for instance GLP-1 analog liraglutide is already approved in the market for treatment of obese/obesity. This would indirectly aid pen needles market. Key players in the pen needles market are launching new and innovative products, in order to cater to increasing customer demand. Becton, Dickinson and Company introduced the BD Ultra-Fine micro pen needle, in 2017, for use with different pen injection devices. People with diabetes are less likely to accidentally inject their insulin dose into a muscle with this product and it provides one of shortest length pen needle available. Other factors such as increasing awareness amongst patient about pen needles related to its convenience, over the conventional needle and syringe system is expected to aid in growth of the pen needles market.

Pen needles Market- Regional Insights

Pen needles market are divided geographically into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. North America was the dominant region in the global pen needles market in 2017. This is attributed to high prevalence of diabetes in the region. For instance, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the U.S. has highest prevalence of diabetes (13% of population) in 2017. Moreover, according to IDF report 2017, U.S. spends around US$ 377 billion annually over entire diabetes disease range, which accounts for about 52% of the total expenditure on diabetes worldwide. Furthermore, there are 30.3 million people in the U.S. with diabetes (9.4% of the US population) that includes 23.1 million people, who are diagnosed and 7.2 million people, who are undiagnosed. Favorable reimbursement scenario would also aid in growth of the pen needles market in the region. Asia Pacific market is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This is owing to largest diabetes patient pool in the region. Countries such as China (114.4 million) and India (72.9 million) are among the top three economies with high prevalence of diabetes, around 240 million diabetes patients were present in the region, in 2017 according to IDF data. Europe is another lucrative market, as it has the one of largest type 1 diabetes population along with highest percentage of geriatric population. According to statistics given by Diabetes UK forum in 2018, currently 10% of UK population is affected with type 1 diabetes. United Nations Population Prospects report 2017 states that, 25% of Europe population is above 60.

Competitive Landscape

Some of the key players operating in pen needles market are Novo Nordisk A/S, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Ypsomed AG, UltiMed, Inc., TERUMO CORPORATION, HTL-STREFA, Owen Mumford Ltd., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Allison Medical, Inc., Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices Ltd., and Artsana S.p.a.

Market Taxonomy

On the basis of type of needle, the global pen needles market is segmented into: