Abbott Laboratories, a medical device manufacturer, is ending its production of enteral tube feeding devices in the United States. Seeing an upcoming supply vacuum in the market, Covidien is stepping up the production of Kangaroo enteral tube feeding pumps and sets.

While Covidien did not name its competitor directly in its press release, the company did note that the production increases were due to a “competitor’s exit from the enteral feeding pump market in the United States.” The rest of the press release contained unequivocal statements. This included statements saying that home-use and clinical devices are safe and readily-available due to increased production.

Gabriel McHugh is a marketing director at Covidien. In prepared remarks, she said, "With this investment, we are confident that we can provide ample supply to meet market needs today and in the future.”

The Kangaroo ePump is designed for use at hospitals and other institutional facilities. The Kangaroo Joey is designed for use in private homes. Abbott first announced that it would exit the pump market earlier this year. According to Abbott, the move out of the market “allows us to focus even more on bringing innovation to our oral and enteral nutrition portfolio of products.” The company’s products will be phased out of production over the next few months.

References

http://images.abbottnutrition.com/AN_13/MEDIA/customer-announcement-lett...

http://investor.covidien.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=207592&p=irol-news&nyo=0