Unique Device Identifier is a unique numerical or alphanumeric code associated with a specific article in the health products sector. It makes it possible to identify specific products clearly and unambiguously on the market and facilitates their traceability.
UDI, according to the European Commission‘s view, must include two components which will allow us to access useful information on the product:
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- a product identifier (UDI-DI)
- a production identifier (UDI-PI).
In addition to the specificity of the UDI:
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- increase product traceability efficiency
- facilitate product recovery
- avoids copies and false products
- It improves patient safety.
Medical Technologies in 2021: a sector report from MedTech Europe
The European employers' association MedTech Europe publishes annually the report MedTech Europe's Facts and Figures. This study, which can be consulted publicly on its website, offers some relevant reliable statistical and economic data on digital health and medical technologies. And also, it is a complex investigation that allows you to approach the medical technologies sector from different angles and variables (depending on the product, the manufacturer, the consumer, health technology professionals…).
At Gabinete Técnico Farmacéutico M. Camps we have decided to share some of the most relevant data given by the Medtech Europe's report with our readers.
Did you know that...
- There are more than 500,000 products based on medical technologies. You can find them in hospitals, social services and in your own home.
- The European healthcare technology sector directly employs more than 760,000 people. By comparison, the European pharmaceutical industry employs around 795,000 people.
- Germany is the country with the highest number of people employed in the sector, while the number of medtech employees per capita is higher in Ireland and Switzerland.
- In Europe there are more than 33,000 medical technology companies. The largest number of them are also based in Germany, followed by Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland.
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up about 95% of the technology industry, most of which employ fewer than 50 people.
- In the European Union, an average of approximately 11% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) goes to healthcare, a clearly pioneering, fundamental and constantly growing sector.
