Análise da aquisição de enxertos vasculares em instituições de saúde públicas no Brasil por meio de processos licitatórios

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world, and medical devices used within this field of medicine are in great demand and researched. Vascular grafts, which consist of tubes that replace, connect, or reconstruct blood vessels, are examples of widely used products. These prostheses can be made of organic or synthetic materials, or a combination of both. As this market is of great interest in the health system, it is important to profile these products that are sold in Brazil, in order to detail what physical attributes they have and the places that demand them the most. From this perspective, this study investigated the characteristics (such as diameter, material, manufacturing technique, manufacturer, etc.) of the models of vascular grafts offered in bids of public health institutions within the calls for proposals held in the national territory, as well as mapping the demand for these products during the period from January 2018 to July 2022. The results show that Dacron® (polyethylene terephthalate) prostheses are marketed in models with larger diameters and bifurcated, mostly from European manufacturers. On the other hand, PTFE/ePTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene/ expanded virgin polytetrafluoroethylene) prostheses offer a greater variety of grafts with smaller calibers. It was also found the low number of manufacturers of hybrid and organic models in the Brazilian market. As for the bids, most originate from the state of Rio de Janeiro, and there is also a significant number in the Northeast region, with a large prevalence of the Biomedical supplier in the procurement processes. With this, it was concluded that this branch of the Brazilian market imports many of these devices, mainly from Europe. Moreover, the demand for hybrid and organic prostheses is much lower compared to synthetic ones, justifying the scarce number of suppliers of these products and a possible lack of investment in this area of the industry. The disparity of demand for these materials by public hospitals in Brazil was also verified, with a low number of bids coming from the North region.