Lab automation propels clinical chemistry analyzers market

Demand for automated clinical chemistry analyzers is growing as laboratories work to improve operational efficiency and lower total cost of ownership.

Global healthcare solutions are continually evolving to meet the ever-changing demands and needs of patients. Clinical labs are an important and necessary component of the worldwide healthcare system. Approximately 70 percent of diagnoses are exclusively based on test data. The current healthcare crisis has further exposed the need for better, sophisticated, and faster diagnostic solutions. Technological brilliance-based ingenuity is critical to remain abreast with the changing landscape of this intensely competitive diagnostic industry. The demand for diagnostic laboratories has been growing with a corresponding rise in lifestyle disorders and infectious diseases. From monitoring chronic diseases to diagnosing acute illnesses, the pivotal role played by automated laboratory technologies need not be over emphasized. Clinical laboratories are no longer confined within the domains of acute and curative medicine. With increasing income levels, a higher growth in the field of preventive care is surging. Healthcare has been becoming more and more prevention-oriented. Better quality of tests, with higher reliability and reproducibility gives higher levels of confidence to institute early treatments.

At the center of most lab operations is clinical chemistry, which performs tests on body fluids to assess human health and monitor chronic diseases. As is the case in other parts of the laboratory, clinical chemistry is becoming increasingly automated, with sophisticated instrumentation, capable of performing hundreds to thousands of tests per hour. As two in every three senior citizens in India suffer from some chronic disease, according to the first Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), released by the Union Ministry of Family and Health Welfare, the field of clinical chemistry is likely to continue its prominent role in patient care.

Clinical chemistry analyzers have been undergoing constant changes, with fully automated devices now available in the market. These analyzers can perform functions, such as recognition of sample and reagent bottles, tube sampling, cap piercing, automatic re-run, and dilution.

Value-based outsourcing is one of the major trends in the market, where the laboratory tests are outsourced to clinical reference laboratories. Small hospitals lacking basic infrastructure for clinical diagnosis have agreements with clinical laboratories. The hospitals outsource the patients to these labs for undergoing various diagnostic tests.

In the past years, the market is moving from fee-for-service to value-based-care model to shift laboratory services to outsourcing diagnostic vendors. The shift from hospital-outsourcing services to reference laboratories will be a major driver for the clinical chemistry analyzer market in coming years.

The global clinical chemistry analyzers market is projected to reach USD 15.2 billion by 2026 from USD 12.3 billion in 2021, at a 4.3-percent CAGR.

Based on product, the reagents segment accounted for the largest share of the clinical chemistry analyzers market in 2021. It is projected to grow at a 4.9-percent CAGR to reach USD 10.6 billion by 2026. The high uptake of reagents is attributed to their cost-effective nature, optimal sensitivity, superior precision, and linearity that ensure desirable performance. These advantages are prompting a large number of clinicians to rely on reagents for precise and accurate diagnosis. Analyzers segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1 percent for the next five-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 25-percent share of the global clinical chemistry analyzers market.

The growth of the global clinical chemistry analyzers market can be primarily credited to growth in technology surrounding clinical chemistry analyzers, a rising global population entering their advanced age, technological improvements in the point-of-care-testing devices, and the increasing attractiveness of laboratory automation. Ongoing technological advances have also resulted in better products intended to simplify workflow, push turnaround times, and deliver accurate results. The market growth is also aided by rising sample volumes that require high-capacity analyzing solutions. The increase in spending by private research agencies is expected to further propel the growth. However, the high cost of clinical analyzing, dearth of qualified and trained professionals, and the risk of result uncertainty restrain the growth.

The clinical chemistry analyzers market in the US is estimated at USD 4.4 billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 34.17-percent share in the global market. China, the world’s second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of USD 1.6 billion in the year 2026, trailing a CAGR of 6 percent. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 3.7 percent and 4.2 percent respectively over the next 5 years. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 4.1-percent CAGR while Rest of European market will reach USD 1.7 billion by the end of 2026. North America enjoys a dominant position due to rising aging population, increasing cases of lifestyle, and chronic medical conditions. The regional market is gaining from rising healthcare expenditure, presence of well-established healthcare infrastructure, high penetration of sophisticated instruments, and supportive initiatives by governments. High growth is expected in the Asia-Pacific region as a result of outsourcing of clinical chemistry analyzer production to countries like China and India. These two countries are also witnessing an increase in medical tourism, which is expected to stimulate the clinical chemistry analyzers market.

The basic metabolic panel test panels are widely used to test and analyze indicators related to various diseases through routine or disease-specific tests. The segment is bound to gain from increasing prevalence of chronic medical conditions, coupled with the preventive healthcare trend. In the global basic metabolic panel (test) segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China, and Europe will drive at 4.8 percent CAGR. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of USD 3.8 billion in the year 2021 will reach a projected size of USD 4.6 billion by the end of 2026. China will remain among the fastest-growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries, such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach USD 582.5 million by the year 2026, while Latin America will expand at a 5.7-percent CAGR.

The major players operating in the global clinical chemistry analyzers market are F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Danaher Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Siemens AG, HORIBA Ltd., Sysmex Corporation, Hitachi, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Mindray Medical International Ltd., Trivitron Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Randox Laboratories Ltd., Medica Corporation, Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Erba Mannheim, Genrui Biotech Inc., Dirui Industrial Co. Ltd., Teco Diagnostics, Balio Diagnostics, Snibe Co. Ltd., and AMS Alliance.

Demand for automated clinical chemistry analyzers is growing as laboratories work to improve operational efficiency and lower total cost of ownership. Today’s automated instruments must meet accuracy and throughput goals while also providing remote management and diagnostics services to minimize downtime and provide a better customer experience.

In evaluating current technology trends in chemistry analyzers, three key developments stand out:

Increasing accuracy and throughput while lowering total cost of ownership. Analyzers are leveraging increasing CPU performance to consolidate multiple functions onto a reduced, standardized CPU footprint. This is helping to increase functionality and introduce new features while lowering bill-of-materials (BOM) costs and streamlining the development and deployment of new applications.

More-sophisticated remote management and diagnostics with computer vision. In an effort to reduce equipment downtime and support a better customer experience, remote management and diagnostics solutions are migrating to incorporate computer vision systems. Computer vision systems enable better support for diagnostics by providing technicians a view inside the instrument. These systems can also be combined with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to identify and circumvent possible issues before they occur.

Future looking – Using computer vision, robotics, and AI for autonomous lab workflows. In the coming years, there is potential for labs to improve throughput and efficiency by taking advantage of more powerful compute, computer vision, robotics, and AI to drive autonomous workflows. This would enable dynamic routing of complex testing workflows based on real-time data analysis, freeing clinicians to focus on high-value work.

The clinical chemistry business has seen a significant shift in favor of automation. Although this trend is not limited to the scientific industry, with the majority of the world preferring contemporary technology over old techniques and processes, automated systems bring a number of advantages to both laboratories and the professionals who work in them. As a result, less preparation time, faster throughput, and less human error imply that testing is now more efficient than ever before, producing better findings in shorter periods of time and, as a result, making testing a more lucrative endeavor owing to greater production. While some regard the emergence of robotic assistants as a danger to jobs, it is believed that laboratories will never be totally capable of functioning without human input. As a result, the extra helping hand will minimize weariness and physiological strain among people working in the laboratory, allowing for more time to conduct new research, which will lead to new discoveries and further development capabilities in the future.