Olympus 2011 Annual Report Download - page 15

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OLYMPUS 2011 13
Our Two Mainstay Businesses: Strengths and Future Prospects
1.
With an approximately 70% share, the Olympus Group has secured a leading position
in the global gastrointestinal endoscopy market. Working to expand diagnostic cover-
age beyond the digestive system, the Group is developing new equipment and new
techniques ranging from diagnosis through treatment. Olympus’s current research
focus is on both minimally invasive treatment technology that reduces the burden
on patients and product usability, for example, enhanced performance and functions
to benefit doctors and technicians. In the course of this development, Olympus is
creating unique products. The Group’s flagship products are equipped with a high-
resolution endoscopic system and Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) technology so that they
can also support cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Furthermore, Olympus leverages its unique development skills to focus on next-
generation systems. As part of such initiatives, the Company is differentiating its
endoscopes from those of other companies by improving the accuracy of the devices’
high-resolution diagnostic imaging as well as their insertability while striving to
extend the use of capsule endoscopes, presently marketed exclusively for use in the
small intestine, to other organs such as the stomach.
> ENDOSCOPES
Olympus has been involved in the surgical endoscope market since the 1970s and
has steadily expanded its business through strategic M&A. After acquiring Gyrus, plc
in 2008, consolidated net sales in the surgical and endotherapy devices field totaled
¥159.8 billion, nearing the ¥195.4 billion recorded in the endoscopy field. In fiscal 2013,
Olympus expects net sales of ¥229.0 billion in the endoscopy field and ¥231.0 billion in
the surgical and endotherapy device field, and the Company expects growth in this field
to soon outpace growth in the endoscopy business.
Olympus’s total share of the surgical endoscope markets of Japan, North America and
Europe currently stands at 50% in the urology field and 30% in the otological field, and
the Company boasts a top share of the market for minimally invasive devices used for
urological and gynecological applications in North America.
In the respiratory organ field, although Olympus had already introduced endoscopes
for lung cancer diagnosis, the Company only became a full-scale participant in the field
with the inclusion of the U.S. pulmonary device company Spiration, Inc., in its scope of
consolidation in 2010.
In addition, by combining energy technologies of Gyrus with Olympus technologies,
the Company will develop products for prompt release, aiming to achieve 30% global
market share of the surgical energy field by fiscal 2015.
In the imaging field, Olympus is aiming for a 30% share of the global market by
leveraging its unique devices supporting the earlier diagnosis of disease and treatment.
In other areas, Olympus is currently striving to develop and popularize all-new
technologies and techniques—including endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD),
which has already gained a widespread following in Japan, natural orifice transluminal
> SURGICAL AND ENDOTHERAPY DEVICES