Frost & Sullivan: Hospitals and laboratories look for cost-effective test panels enabling simultaneous autoimmune diseases testing

Successful autoimmune disease awareness campaigns are encouraging patients to seek clinical diagnostics even for general symptoms such as fatigue and gastrointestinal distress, spurring the global autoimmune disease diagnostics market. The rising incidence of gastrointestinal autoimmune conditions, primarily celiac disease, also promotes testing. 

As a result, market revenue is estimated to reach $1.0 billion in 2018 from $712.5 million in 2012, according to the new Global Autoimmune Disease Diagnostics Market analysis from Frost & Sullivan.

The U.S. market will be the highest contributor to the growth of the global autoimmune disease diagnostics market, especially as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expands health coverage to at least 19.5 million people in the country. The increase in the number of beneficiaries will lead to higher diagnostic testing of patients with autoimmune disease symptoms. 

“Large advertising campaigns for relatively new autoimmune disease medications treating a wide variety of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, chronic plaque psoriasis, Crohn's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis improved patient awareness,” said a Frost & Sullivan Healthcare research analyst. “The subsequent growth in testing volumes will prompt clinical laboratories to employ advanced autoimmune disease diagnostic tests.”

However, due to the broad range of symptoms associated with autoimmune diseases, clinicians regularly struggle to derive the correct diagnosis, compelling some physicians to question the value of autoimmune disease diagnostics. In fact, as much as 30 percent of healthy patients test positive incorrectly and undergo unnecessary therapies and procedures.

Moreover, several autoimmune disease diagnostic tests are designed for manual operation, and the shortage of skilled technicians limits uptake. Handling certain therapies such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits and indirect immunofluorescent assays (IFA) that are often designated as highly complex becomes all the more difficult. This created immense demand for automated diagnostic platforms that facilitate rapid and efficient testing.

“Test panels that enable the simultaneous use of multiple autoimmune disease diagnostics will provide the greatest value,” said the analyst. “Although the price per test may decline, escalating sale volumes will fuel market growth.”

As hospital and reference laboratories globally look to enhance productivity and cost-efficiency, consolidation is an inevitable trend. As a result, vendors must address their customers’ increasing demand for automated diagnostic platforms that enable rapid and efficient laboratory testing.

Global Autoimmune Disease Diagnostics Market is part of the Life Sciences Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes: Industry Financial Review of the U.S. In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) and Life Science Research Tools Markets, U.S. Market for Rheumatoid Arthritis Pharmacotherapeutics, Overview of Indian In Vitro Diagnostics Market, U.S. Clinical Laboratory Market, and Western European IVD Market, among others. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

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