COVID-19 Impact on Absorbable Heart Stent in Healthcare Industry
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), also known as SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV, is a human infectious disease caused by the coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the world health organization due to the rapid rise in human infection rates. The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the whole planet with its major impacts on the economy and businesses across the globe. Though the emergence of the virus can be traced back to Asia, many European countries along with the U.S. have been struck massively by the pandemic. The virus has spread across all regions ranging from North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa up to South America. After the declaration of the pandemic, various countries announced the complete lockdown such as India, China, and other Asian countries to decrease its spread. According to the latest situation report by World Health Organization (WHO) stated 175 million cases of corona virus have been reported globally and 4 million patients are dead due to the coronavirus. On a slightly positive note, a total of 158 million people have recovered and a total of 2 million vaccine doses have been administered.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a worldwide pande0mic, and cardiovascular complications and arrhythmias in these patients are common. Cardiac monitoring is recommended for at-risk patients. The novel coronavirus pandemic has significantly impacted the timely delivery of surgical or stent treatment for patients with severe coronary vascular disease. This has created a large backlog of work and upstaging of disease with consequent increase in risk and cost of treatment and potential for worse long-term outcomes. As countries emerge from lockdown but with COVID-19 pandemic in society, precautions remain that restrict ‘normal’ practice.
Stents are small, expandable tubes that treat narrowed arteries. Coronary artery stents are used to open the blockage of arteries or to expand the narrowing arteries, which helps to treat a heart attack, and reduce pain like chest pain. Absorbable Heart Stents are said to be “the fourth revolution” after balloon angioplasty, baremetal stents, and drug-eluting stents. As these provide mechanical support for a determined period and then disappear from the vessel, allowing its natural healing, and avoiding the risks associated with having a permanent metallic cage, such as stent thrombosis. The absorption of the stent could potentially lead to a recovery of the endothelial function of the vessel, making it responsive again to vasoactive agents. The potential benefits, including the decreased risk of stent thrombosis at long-term follow-up, one of the most feared complications of metallic stents, have led to absorbable stents, a field of growing interest in interventional cardiology.
The increasing prevalence of geriatric population and adoption of sedentary lifestyle along with the rise of obesity in people are driving the absorbable heart stent market as coronary artery diseases require appropriate surgeries for 'their treatment’. But there is a negative impact of COVID-19 on the absorbable heart stent market due to massive disruption of supply chains, and financial fragility forced manufacturers to shut down their industries as absorbable stents require high financial inputs for manufacturing.
For Instance,
• According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 18.2 million US adults age 20 and older have CAD (about 6.7%), which has required appropriate treatment
• According to the European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics 2017, each year, cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes 3.9 million deaths in Europe and over 1.8 million deaths in the European Union (EU)
Moreover, COVID-19 has made it more challenging for the manufacturing companies to bridge the losses and attempt to fulfil the demands during these times. The COVID-19 has impacted the business of manufacturers, and other service providers that are involved in absorbable heart stent devices.

IMPACT ON PRICE
COVID-19 has forced the countries to impose lockdown and restrictions worldwide. This has affected many industries and economies. The total lockdown in various countries forbade the transportation of raw materials, and the business of service providers. So, manufacturing absorbable heart stent devices has become difficult, which directly impacted the prices largely.
For instance,
• In 2020, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has been approved to hike the prices of absorbable heart stent on seeing the current scenario and making it easy for the manufacturers.

IMPACT IN DEMAND
The outbreak of the coronavirus has shown impacts on various markets around the world. It is the cause of lockdown and isolation, which ultimately has an impact on global economic activity. This is why the global epidemic has shrunk by 1.0% in the current year.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to transform the growth of various industries, the immediate impact of the outbreak is varied. While a few industries will register a drop in demand, numerous others will continue to remain unscathed and show promising growth opportunities.
As heart patients are under suspection for higher exposure to COVID-19, demand for absorbable stents surges as companies are making efforts to provide help to healthcare systems to overcome the scarcity of stents while treating CAD. Absorbable stents are in high demand due to the high prevalence of interventional cardiology and peripheral vascular procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevents the patient from staying in the hospital for long.
The clinical observations suggest that a person with heart disease has been more prone to COVID-19, which lead to clinical complications. Therefore, the government of various countries laid guidelines for special care, and treatment for heart patients. This has surged the demand for absorbable stents among people for early treatment of CAD to prevent complications of COVID-19.
For Instance,
• According to an early bulletin released by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) on March 6, 2020, people who have underlying cardiovascular disease, have a higher mortality rate when it comes to COVID-19 (10.5 percent) than people who have an underlying chronic respiratory disease (6.3 percent)
• According to the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, the COVID-19 mortality rate for people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease was between 10.5 and nearly 14 percent, and the number surged to between 35 percent and almost 87 percent for people who had underlying coronary artery disease

IMPACT ON SUPPLY CHAIN
The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted the supply chains for absorbable heart stents globally. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and its subsequent impact on restrictions on trade and development of goods has resulted in a shutdown of vast portions of the global economy, resulting in disrupted supply chains due to transportation cessation, which affected the manufacturing unit largely.
Companies in the arterial stents market are helping healthcare systems to stock inventory and medical devices in order to avoid supply shocks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
For instance,
• According to FDA, there have been reported shortages of medical devices and equipment amid COVID-19 due to disruption of supply and service providers
• According to Springer, 2020, many companies experienced dramatic exposure to supply chain disruptions during the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns (Strange 2020) due to their reliance on offshore supplies

STRATEGIC INITIATIVES FOR MANUFACTURERS
A large pool of the population affected by this COVID-19 virus, and its spread is expanding across the world in the last few months. To deal with the COVID-19 outbreak challenges, many market players are creating new strategies.
The key players engaged in providing products such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific Corporation, Abbott, Cook Group, Angiomed GmbH & Co. Medizintechnik KG face challenges to keep the growth during coronavirus and to maintain the demand and supply chain with proper protection of the employees.
For instance,
• Medtronic focused on providing special protection and care to its employees. Its manufacturing and distribution facilities are routinely cleaned and sanitized, employees are utilizing personal protective equipment (PPE) and social distancing, including staggered breaks to reduce crowds in common areas, and additional screening and access protocols have been implemented.
• Medtronic increased contributions to its Employee Emergency Assistance Fund, which is providing need-based financial grants to employees who are experiencing economic impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including childcare reimbursement.
• Boston Scientific Corporation is providing extra precautions, including increased cleaning measures, social distancing protocols, and the use of face coverings for employees who work onsite, along with personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees in the workplace ensuring business continuity.

CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 has impacted the market positively. To summarize, the prices for this market has increased as manufacturing requires raw materials which have been disrupted amid COVID-19. The demand for absorbable heart stent market has been increasing due to the prevalence of geriatric population and adoption of sedentary lifestyle which leads to various coronary vascular diseases, but the supply chain and service providers are unable to satisfy the needs, and thus, have impacted largely. However, manufacturers, service providers, and the government are making new guidelines to work safely in the workplace in the new normal and combat the gap between demand and supply. Overall, various measures have been taken by the market players to improve their business and the quality of their services.