In Vitro Diagnostics: The Quest for Growth

by Anne Staylor and Mary Thompson

The quest for market growth in the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) space is taking manufacturers down a number of avenues, as they seek to counter the effects of the economic downturn that has hit particularly hard in the US and Western European markets over the past couple of years. Since 2008, economic woes in these regions have put pressure on large, consumer-based market segments, such as the diabetes glucose-testing market, driving down sales, pricing, and profits. As a result, the IVD industry is actively seeking out higher growth opportunities to offset this impact—and it is finding solutions in several areas, branching into underserved emerging markets like China and India and targeting higher-growth clinical segments such as cancer, women's health, and infectious disease