Molecular Diagnostics Market Worth Nearly USD 7 Billion

The size of the molecular diagnostic testing market has reached USD 6.7 billion and is being driven by the growing threat of infectious disease and cancer, as well as the development of new products. These are the latest findings of Kalorama Information, an independent medical market research firm.

The main technologies for clinical molecular diagnostics comprise nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) based on real-time PCR (qPCR) and other amplification-detection protocols; direct nucleic acid probe tests such as in situ hybridization (ISH) and its fluorescent ISH (FISH); next-generation sequencing (NGS); amplification followed by probe-based hybridization on arrays (or microarrays); and other related methods.

According to Kalorama, nucleic acid amplification tests and sequencing-based tests will be the future of the molecular diagnostics market. Meanwhile, qPCR and next-generation sequencing will be the preferred choice for cancer testing and prenatal screening due to their superior sensitivity and non-invasive sampling. Competitive displacement is expected in cytogenetics, new cancer tests and blood culture tests, though in situ hybridization will retain application markets in cancer testing with a share of 47% of the total molecular diagnostics market for cancer in 2021.

Over the next five years, infectious disease is expected to account for 60% of the global molecular diagnostics. Time to results for real-time PCR and isothermal amplification remain vital for various infectious disease testing applications, such as respiratory testing, hospital-acquired infections, bloodstream infections, and molecular point-of-care tests.

The molecular infectious disease diagnostics segment is defined by test decentralization with the introduction of NAAT platforms, which can be operated in hospital laboratories, and near-patient points of care, such as physician office labs and outpatient clinics. Larger clinical laboratories find integrated design from sample preparation to results analysis and user friendly features equally appealing as it frees up personnel.

Players in the molecular infectious disease diagnostics segment have been focusing on expanding the menu on integrated analyzers. However, their market share and client retention will depend on the ability to perform all routine infectious disease tests on a single platform.