Marketing
Point-of-care diagnostic–market opportunity
Apr/01/09 10:11 Filed in: Medical products | Pharmaceuticals
Over the past year, I’ve been observing the growth of a class of medical products called point-of-care diagnostic testing. These tests are easy to use, are accurate, and provide rapid results for the patient and clinician. Some are intended for home use, but the market growth is in the physician office, hospitals (especially the point of entry such as emergency departments), managed care, and other clinical areas. Several companies are in the market, including Quidel, Inverness Medical Innovations, OraSure, and Bayer. The diagnostic tests, manufactured and marketed by these companies (and several others, too numerous to mention), are used mainly for drug abuse screening, cholesterol levels, infectious diseases (including HIV), urine chemistry, blood glucose, hemoglobin A1C, prothrombin time, cancer screening, fecal occult blood, pregnancy, and other areas of clinical diagnostics. The tests can provide results in a manner of minutes, rather than sending the patient to a laboratory to await results hours or days later. Read More...