Point of Care Test Market is Ravaged, and Helped By Pandemic

ARLINGTON, Va., April 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kalorama Information reported a mixed result with point of care testing, defined by tests that can deliver a result meaningful during a patient visit with a provider or on their own.  In 2020, sales of POC testing reached $29,316 million, according to Kalorama Information, a sister publication to Lab Pulse.  That's up double digits from 2019, which would normally be pretty intense growth according to the Arlington, VA-based producer of IVD market research reports, but the growth in sales belies the reduction of business for the average point-of-care test product.  New COVID-19 tests fueled growth while the pandemic ravaged business in other test categories.  This according to Kalorama's Information Worldwide Market for Point of Care. 

"Everywhere but infectious disease, this is a story of a declining market," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information, a Science and Medicine Group brand.  "But since infectious disease has long been seen as the growth pathway for POC, that counters the long-term damage.  Many companies who make other products just pivoted their brands towards it, and when you combine uber-success in this category with recovery in 2021 in other categories, there's no permanent damage to overall POCT from the pandemic.

But as Kalorama's report indicates, for product managers in some routine POC segments, it's a different story.  Sales were down as COVID-19 caused a contraction of the segment due to lockdown, closures, limited physician visits and a reduction in elective and outpatient surgery.  

"It's point of care-there so has to be a care event for POC to be used," Carlson said. "And there was a disturbing trend in 2020, less care events; less visits to healthcare practitioners for preventive visits, less ER visits even, and this affected the majority of test products."

Specifically, Kalorama's report notes two bread-and-butter categories of testing that were hurt by the pandemic:

• The POC blood and electrolytes testing market was negatively affected by COVID-19. This was mainly due to lockdowns, limited physician/patient visits and a reluctance of patients to seek medical attention. Routine blood workups were limited along with other non-life-threatening assessments. The market contracted in high single digits for 2019-2020.
• The POC coagulation testing market was negatively affected by COVID-19. This was mainly due to lockdowns and limited physician/patient visits. The self-testing portion contracted due to patient lockdowns and limited availability to purchase coagulation testing materials. The professional segment also declined significantly due to the aforementioned issues. The market contracted about more than 20%.

Meanwhile, Kalorama said, the POC infectious disease market grew at over 300%, which made up for the entire market loss in other areas.  That's COVID-19 mostly, but not solely as a lot of healthcare infection and respiratory condition tests were utilized last year as well.  

More information and scores of categories of testing with sizing and forecasts, can be found at https://kaloramainformation.com/product/the-worldwide-market-for-point-of-care-poc-diagnostic-tests-8th-edition/

About Kalorama Information

For more than 30 years, Kalorama Information has been a leading publisher of market research in healthcare areas, including in vitro diagnostics (IVD), biotechnology, healthcare, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.

SOURCE Kalorama Information

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