Urgent Care and Its Enemies

Urgent care locations have grown over the past decade, Kalorama estimates the urgent care locations in the United States to be 9,900, growing from nearly 7,000 in 2013.  That’s spectacular growth, driven by a need for more healthcare services, improved insured populations and resistance to physician office waiting times.  Because of these undisputable positives, it’s […]

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Siemens Healthineers Announces COVID-19 Neutralizing Antibodies Test

Siemens Healthineers yesterday announced its SARS-CoV-2 IgG Antibody Test (sCOVG)1 has proven to measure neutralizing antibodies and has achieved CE Mark. The test is an enhanced version of the assay which became available globally this summer, including in the U.S. It demonstrates the ability to detect neutralizing antibodies and reports quantitative results measuring the amount […]

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Vaccines Won’t Eliminate the Need for COVID-19 Testing

Surprising effectiveness levels for COVID-19 vaccine candidates have been reported in the news lately, with Pfizer and Moderna releasing company data.   This rightly gives many hope, and also may lead to a question as to whether the PCR and immunoassay testing for the disease we are seeing in 2020 will continue much longer.  It may […]

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COVID-19 Diagnostics Blog: Antigen Testing Takes Center Stage; New Qiagen Test; Hologic and BD Sales Boom; CMS Cuts Payments to Spur Lab Turnaround; AMP Survey

Hundreds of Tests on The Market, U.S. Labs Mostly Use Ten

As the COVID-19 crisis surfaced in the United States, molecular diagnostic manufacturers went to work with new RT-PCR testing kits.  There have been hundreds of tests on the market receiving EUAs from the Food and Drug Administration, but a survey from the Association of Molecular Pathology demonstrated that only a few are used by laboratories.  As part of its survey: https://www.amp.org/advocacy/sars-cov-2-survey/ labs were asked their top ten testing methods.   Among them: Abbott m2000, Roche cobas were the top two vendors in most labs’ top tens.

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Vaccine Market Grows to 37.4 BN

In 2020, the global market for preventive vaccines is valued at $37.4 billion, up overall from $30.7 billion in 2015.  The finding was made in Kalorama Information’s report, Vaccines 2020 (https://kaloramainformation.com/product/vaccines-2020-world-market-analysis-players-trends/).  Strong continued growth in the global vaccines market is expected through 2025, specifically:  Growth at high double-digit rates.  Sales of adult vaccines are expected […]

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Fueled by Antigen Testing, COVID-19 Testing Market Soars to 10.5 BN: Report

In its COVID-19 Update report, Kalorama Information said that volume was up in labs and among IVD vendors, new technologies are available.  Kalorama projects a 10.5 billion-dollar market for COVID-19.  This is a 1 billion dollar increase from previous estimates. For most aspects of the diagnostic testing process, there has still been a learning curve […]

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Data-Driven Insights into the Microbiome Landscape

The microbiome is a rapidly growing market. Understanding the detailed roles and functions of the microbiome is important as it is linked to a multitude of critical areas from human health to environmental sustainability. (A recent report on “Analytics of the Microbiome” by Arogyam covers all aspects of the microbiome landscape.  A free preview of the […]

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CRISPR: Saving the World or Playing with Dynamite?

It’s an oft-told story that the fortune of Swedish chemist and businessman Alfred Nobel was founded on patented explosives, including dynamite. While his products were used beneficially in mining and construction applications, their wartime use in munitions gave him concern that he would be remembered solely as a ‘merchant of death’. Consequently, Nobel set aside […]

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Lab-Developed Test Market Exceeds 12 Billion: What You Need to Know

What is a Lab-Developed Test? In vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests are manufactured and sold by diagnostic companies following approval (or clearance) by the appropriate regulatory agencies.  IVD tests are then distributed and used by many different clinical laboratories. In contrast, a laboratory developed test (LDTs) is developed by a clinical laboratory for use specifically in […]

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Urgent Care – Growth, But Also Increasing Competition and Possible Saturation

Urgent care’s story in the United States has been all about growth.  They offer walk-in care and a range of services, expanded hours and limited wait times.  They usually have imaging equipment and multiple providers and are in a freestanding location or a dedicated store within a retail strip mall.  With approximately 10,000 locations across […]

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