Last year at this time, 3D printing stocks were all the rage. Fast forward a year and they've all come cratering down as the reality of the industry's opportunity settled in.
Even though lots of people's hopes were let down, the industry still holds tremendous promise in the healthcare industry. Learn how companies like 3D Systems (DDD +28.06%) are leveraging their 3D printing capabilities to change the doctor-patient relationship in this clip of Industry Focus: Healthcare.
A full transcript follows the video.
This podcast was recorded on Jan. 13, 2016.
David Kretzmann: One of the segments for 3D Systems that's actually growing the fastest is health applications. It's still about 15% of the company's overall sales, but it's growing pretty quickly. They had some examples on the floor at CES. One of our colleagues, and one of my fellow analysts in Supernova, Brendan Mathews, he went and checked out their booth, and they actually have a set up now where a patient can get an MRI, and 3D Systems can print replicas of the patient's actual body parts and organs. The company has a facility in Colorado.
This benefits doctors and physicians, because they can practice and determine the best way to approach a surgery or procedure. So rather than ... not guessing, but, it gives you something physical you can work with so you can actually look at the patient's physical body parts and have an exact replica that's 3D printed thanks to that MRI scan. And yeah, that has some pretty interesting implications for that healthcare space. So, I think, that's a more realistic and powerful application for 3D printing than say, printing tchotchkes in your home.
Kristine Harjes: Yeah, exactly. A little more niche-y than was initially expected, but still could be a huge opportunity.
