MedTech and IVD market – Positioning for the future

India’s in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) market is immensely driven by the increase in the number of chronic and lifestyle-related disorders, increasing cancer incidences, growing awareness on the importance of early diagnosis and prevention, and improving access to healthcare facilities and diagnostic set-ups. While India’s IVD market size is projected to grow at a CAGR of >10 percent, the rising demand for point-of-care (POC) IVD devices has positively impacted the growth of the IVD market. The recently launched IVD instruments are convenient to use and highly efficient, which has increased their adoption among healthcare professionals. Also, several over-the-counter diagnostic products, such as glucose monitoring kits, are available in the market. These products are mainly preferred by the elderly to reduce hospital visits. The importance of these products has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people are opting for convenient diagnostic tests that can be performed in homecare settings. These factors, coupled with the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, increasing awareness about disease diagnosis, and the growing disposable income levels are expected to support the growth of this market.

Furthermore, emerging technological innovations in healthcare, such as biosensors, lab-on-a-chip, wearable devices, and POC diagnostics are increasingly becoming an important part of the healthcare landscape. POC testing helps bring testing closer to the patients and obtain results quickly for the healthcare provider to expedite diagnosis and subsequent treatment. This is likely to increase the adoption of IVD in India.

However, stringent regulatory policies and lack of sufficient reimbursement policies are projected to hamper the market growth of IVD market.

The reagents segment held the largest market on account of the fact that there is an increasing demand for rapid, accurate, and sensitive devices. Furthermore, their wide usage in cancer IVD testing, increase in demand for self-testing and POC products, and rise in the number of R&D initiatives pertaining to reagents are expected to aid the market growth.

The future growth of the Indian IVD market will be driven by Tier-II and Tier-III cities, and that is where the price of the products and testing consumables will matter the most.

Future of MedTech market
India is fast earning a reputation of being the destination for affordable and reliable medical care and, thus, is emerging as one of the top three nations for direct investments by multinational MedTech companies.

So, how can MedTech companies drive sustainable growth, and position themselves for success by venturing into new markets beyond Tier-I cities? The answer lies in innovation of products, services, and business models.

Moving from importing to innovation
There is a need to use medical technology effectively to address the huge gap between demand and supply of healthcare services in India. The medical technology sector in India is at a nascent stage, with very limited indigenous manufacturing. In fact, imports still constitute a large part of the current USD 4.5 billion medical technology market, but that does not limit its future and the sector is rapidly expanding.

MedTech companies’ strategies need to include relocation of manufacturing and R&D units closer to emerging economies. This will enable the medical devices companies to improve manufacturing efficiency, lower production costs, and develop products that serve the local markets better.

Given the differentiated conditions, medical devices need to be either designed from scratch or remodeled for the Indian market, in particular, and emerging markets in general. The key factors influencing the redesigning of medical devices are affordability, accessibility, awareness, availability, and adaptability.

The challenges and limitations we face today should act as a base for future progress. The key innovation trends in healthcare should help in developing affordable medical devices to extend the reach and accessibility of healthcare services beyond Tier-I cities.