COVID-19 Market Will Reach 38 Billion by End of Year, Kalorama Finds

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Feb 25, 2021, 06:05 ET

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IVD market researcher Kalorama Information has published its first assessment of the COVID-19 market since last year. The firm forecasts the market growing to $38 billion by year's end. This is according to Kalorama's COVID-19 Testing Update 2021: Molecular & Antigen Markets, Procedures, Mutations, Home Tests, and Other Trends.

While there are hundreds of test products, many in small batches or serving regional markets, less than twenty IVD test firms earn most of this revenue, Kalorama finds - including the top two firms Roche Diagnostics and Abbott Diagnostics. Thermo Fisher's TaqPath is one of the most commonly used kits. Cepheid and bioMerieux have small footprint systems that are proving useful in the pandemic. Becton Dickinson and Quidel are antigen players, longtime competitors in flu testing that have applied those systems to COVID-19 tests. Other companies of significance include Bio-Rad, Siemens Healthineers, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Illumina, BGI, Seegene, Qiagen and DiaSorin.

This is the firm's fourth study of the market, based on financial reporting from companies and triangulated analysis. Kalorama has adjusted its forecasts over time as new company reporting has come in. The firm says not only are company revenues increasing because of the volume of testing demand, but the pandemic is pushing forward trends of point-of-care and at-home testing, improved throughput and sample collection.

"Last year, the question for diagnostic companies was how many tests they could get out the door,'" said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information. "Now it's shifting to what innovation they can make, what angle will separate our approach for meaningful value-add."

New features have been added to tests, such us variant and mutation detection, combination with flu and RSV, more specific [neutralizing] antibody detection, or ultra-large volume capacities. Just in the last two months, COVID-19 has affected considerable change at diagnostic companies.

A factor in the market is that President Biden's plan adjusts federal spending on testing upward. The White House COVID-19 Response Team announced on Wednesday that the Biden administration will provide $1.6 billion to expand and improve COVID-19 testing and genomic sequencing.

"We tend to believe the coming focus on testing a greater number of individuals beyond those who report systems helps antigen test volumes, as well as keeps a high volume of PCR in place, presages a large market this year," says Carlson. "We will not make a 2022 forecast as it is more uncertainty than Kalorama likes, but you are seeing predictions of endemic status for this disease and the average IVD vendor thinks they'll be in production next year."

This and more information can be found in Kalorama Information's report:

https://kaloramainformation.com/product/covid-19-testing-update-2021

About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information, part of Science and Medicine Group, is the leading publisher of market research in healthcare areas, including in vitro diagnostics (IVD), biotechnology, healthcare, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Science and Medicine Group supports companies seeking to commercialize the rapidly changing marketplace at the intersection of science, medicine, and technology. Comprised of industry-leading brands, Science and Medicine Group serves analytical instrument, life science, imaging, and clinical diagnostic companies by helping them create strategies and products to win markets and provide platforms to digitally engage their markets through a variety of innovative solutions. Kalorama Information produces 30 reports a year. The firm offers a Knowledge Center, which provides access to all published reports.

SOURCE Kalorama Information