Women's Health: A Growing Market for Diagnostic Players

Mention "women's health" and you're likely to elicit either a yawn or a groan of protest. Not the same feminist rant about the poor and underserved, please! But health care companies are waking up to the fact that certain areas of women's health—especially the cancer screening and prenatal testing markets--are ripe for growth. It's hard to ignore the fact that more than half of the world's population is female and that women are the gatekeepers to wellness—not just their own, but of their entire families. Indeed, studies estimate that women already make 75% of all health care decisions in the US and spend two out of every three healthcare dollars, or about $500 billion annually.

Yet despite the market potential, companies haven't necessarily pushed products or tests aimed at improving women's health primarily due to the cost-constrained nature of the in vitro diagnostic (IVD) market. That is starting to change thanks to Cytyc Corp. and Digene Corp. , two companies that have built successful franchises around products specifically targeting gynecological health. (See "Cytyc's Second Child: Dressed Alike, But Very Different," IN VIVO, December 2002 Also see "Cytyc's Second Child: Dressed Alike, But Very Different" - In Vivo, 1 December, 2002. and "Digene's Long Road Towards a Blockbuster," IN VIVO, September 2001 Also see "Digene's Long Road Towards a Blockbuster" - In Vivo, 1 September, 2001..) In 2005, Cytyc posted revenues of more than $500 million, up from $393 million the year before, owing to torrid sales of its ThinPrep Pap smear