(AOF) – The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) has taken a health policy decision to speed up the replacement of certain Philips Respironics ventilation devices. The latter announced in June 2021 a worldwide recall of certain ventilators following the identification of a possible problem with the sound-absorbing foam present in these medical devices and undertook to replace the devices concerned in France.
The ANSM points out that the replacement plan for all the devices concerned announced by the manufacturer has made very little progress. As of February 4, 2022, Philips Respironics has replaced only 7% of defective devices.
Consequently, Philips Respironics is required by its health policy decision to accelerate the replacement of the machines according to the following methods: the replacement with the service providers or the repair of 75% of the devices concerned in June 2022 and the replacement with the service providers or the 100% repair of devices in December 2022.
Philips Respironics is also required to send the ANSM a monthly progress report on the schedule and to set up an epidemiological study. The purpose of this is to assess the risk of cancer potentially induced by exposure to the ventilation equipment concerned, the preliminary results of which must be sent to the ANSM within one year at the latest.
In addition, home healthcare providers are once again called upon to put in place all useful measures, in particular traceability and patient information, to contribute to compliance with this schedule.
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Professional electronics: market under pressure
According to the WSTS (World Semiconductor Trade Statistics), the global semiconductor market is even expected to grow by 8.4% in 2021 for a market under extreme tension.
Excellent prospects
While demand is growing faster than global growth, supply is very limited. Three players dominate the sector (the Taiwanese TSMC, the American Intel and the Korean Samsung) whereas there were more than twenty in 2002. Analysts predict that there will be only two from 2023. The United States represent only 12% of world production according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. As for Europe, it weighs only 7%. It aims to produce 20% of semiconductors in the world by 2030. Sixteen countries, including France and Germany, will unite to develop production capacities.
TSMC (the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is very well positioned to take advantage of the arrival of 5G and connected objects. “Founder”, it does not sell any chip under its brand, but produces the components on behalf of other players.
The Middle East ESC
Still relatively unknown compared to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Gitex (Gulf Information Technology Exhibition) in Dubai has existed since 1981 and attracts around 100,000 visitors a year. Even if it wants to compete with the CES in Las Vegas, and the region is a very tech-savvy market, the Gitex remains, despite its internationalization, still a regional hub for technology. The CES makes it possible to cover the United States, North America and Europe at the same time, while the Gitex rather covers the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. In 2021 this event took place at the same time as the World Expo in Dubai. France was the second most represented country, behind Italy.