Potential in Asian in vitro diagnostic markets

The market for clinical diagnostics may be mature in the West, but there is still significant growth potential in Asian markets, according to a new study from Kalorama Information. The study, Asian In Vitro Diagnostic Markets, puts total revenues in the top five Asian markets at around US$3.5bn (€3.6bn), but says double-digit growth is not uncommon in many of the segments now considered moribund in the US and Western Europe.

The report says that conditions vary widely among the major markets, as a result of ongoing political and economic changes. Japan, which is by far the largest market in Asia, is a stable, mature market, whereas China is in the midst of major change.

'The five top markets in Asia have little in common except that they share a continent,' said Carl McEvoy, one of the study's authors. 'Japan, like North America and Western Europe, is an entirely mature market. But at the other extreme lie China and India. China's growth rate has actually increased in the past two years.'

China's entry into the World Trade Organisation, the unmet need of a growing population in China and India, and Korea's continuing recovery from the Asian economic crisis of the 1990s are providing significant potential for IVD manufacturers in Asia, the study says.