Laboratory News

Faster Growth Predicted for Point-of-Care Products than Core Lab Testing

In the battle for market share between core lab testing and point-of-care (POC) testing, momentum continues in favor of POC testing.  That's one prediction made in a new report entitled "Worldwide Market and Emerging Technologies for Point-of-Care-Testing."  The report, from InteLab Corp, highlighted individual sectors in the international POC market such as hospital bedside, home/self-testing, and physician's office lab (POL) testing, and the factors affecting the market's development.

In 2005, the POC market controlled 35% of the total diagnostics product market.  InteLab Corp projects that, by 2011, POC testing will expand to 41% of the market.  It attributes the success of POC products to clinician demands for improved patient outcomes and pressures to reduce healthcare costs.  Another factor aiding the growing use of POC testing products is a clear patient preference for care delivery outside of a hospital setting.  The self-testing sector is predicted to see a 10.6% increase from 2006 to 2011.  It should be noted, however, that 98% of these tests identified in the IntelLab report will blood glucose tests performed by diabetics.

Sales of hospital critical care products and POL tests are projected to grow at an 11.7% compound annual rate by 2011, according to the report.  The increase is due in part to the immunoassay expansion and the adoption of more molecular diagnostics in the POL sector.

Other key numbers from the report include:

• Increased sales of POL products will net $2.64 billion by 2011, up from $1.66 billion in 2005.
• The hospital bedside testing sector is projected to have a 6% increase by 2011.
• The combined market for hospital bedside POC testing products totaled $1.3 billion in 2005, and is forecasted to grow to $2.6 billion by 2011.

Laboratories should be aware of the steady increase in the popularity and prevalence of POC tests.  It is a logical consequence of two important trends.  The primary factor is the unbroken string of double-digit increases in outpatient procedures tracked since 1980.  The second important factor is the continuing ability of new technologies to support POC tests that require less reagent, smaller specimens, and can be performed with analytical systems that continually shrink in size while offering better quality results.  Dark Daily believes POC technologies will continue to move tests out of core laboratories and closer to patient care settings.  As that happens, core laboratories will be performing more complex reference and esoteric tests-often new assays that have high clinical value and can only be performed within larger laboratories.

Related Articles:

• Worldwide Markets and Emerging Technologies for Point-of-Care Testing 
• Strong growth projected for POC products