The USD 3.2 billion Asian in vitro diagnostics (IVD) market has, over the past few years, been the only region experiencing close to a double-digit growth rate. While an ageing population and widening health insurance penetration are advancing growth opportunities in this high potential market, divergent country-specific social, economic, political and healthcare issues threaten to impede overall market development.
Asia's ageing population is expected to double by 2025, increasing the number of people likely to require medical treatment. Rising average life expectancies coupled with more affluent populations are expected to boost expenditure on healthcare treatments, including IVD. For instance, Japan - with the world's third largest aged population - currently accounts for 90 per cent of IVD market revenues in Asia.
In other countries, governments are being confronted with the dilemma of reducing healthcare outlays even while expanding healthcare coverage to all. Here, the growing realisation of their tremendous financial and therapeutic benefits is furthering the popularity of IVD tests. From being under-utilised and undervalued, IVD tests are now increasingly being regarded as key to improving overall cost efficiency and patient outcomes.
Currently, lack of proper health insurance in most countries coupled with constrained personal finances has resulted in low levels of consumer spending. In the absence of a strong medical insurance sector, most of the health care expenditure is borne by the individuals themselves. It is estimated that 82 per cent and 63 per cent of total health care spending in India and China, respectively, is "out-of-pocket."
"In China and India - identified as amongst the most high growth country markets for IVD - no coverage of health care expenditures exists and hence, IVD expenditure is limited," notes Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Analyst Raghavendra Chitta. "This is expected to slowly change with private insurance companies increasing their penetration and introducing some kind of healthcare coverage."
By allowing patients to take a more proactive role in managing their own health, IVD tests offer a cost-effective alternative. Patients are more likely to receive the suitable treatment and avoid unnecessary and expensive medical procedures, if IVD testing is used. However, further education of key stakeholders is critical if uptake levels are to be maximised.
In 2003, the three largest revenue contributing segments to the total IVD market in Asia were clinical chemistry (38 per cent) and immunoassay (29 per cent) followed by haematology and microbiology. The fastest growth was, however, recorded by the molecular biology segment followed by coagulation and point of care (POC).
Increased adoption of NAT-based infectious diseases and viral assays (molecular diagnostics), blood glucose testing (point of care), cardiac markers and glucose (clinical chemistry), coagulation self-monitoring and bacteriology culture (microbiology) is set to support a compound annual growth rate of almost 9.0 per cent for the overall IVD market between 2003 and 2010.