Market Opportunities Appear for Improved Swine Flu Diagnostic Tests

The makers of certain tests will benefit both in terms of sales and more broadly in the recognition that their products play a vital role in making the public health community significantly better prepared for this possible pandemic than in 1968 or before.

Rapid immunoassays, the clinical usefulness of which is limited under normal conditions, will see an increased profile. For the most part, sales of these products depend on the severity of the influenza season, which has been mild (with subsequent disappointing sales) in recent years. The advent of the swine flu will have a positive, albeit short-term, impact on revenues.

"Under normal circumstances, most patients do not visit a doctor or hospital to be tested for the flu until after the period when the detectable virus is being shed, in which case rapid testing is unhelpful," notes Shara Rosen, the author of the report. "However, this scenario changes in the setting of an epidemic or pandemic alert when people are more sensitized to the danger of the illness. And in a pandemic situation with limited therapeutic supply, rapid immunoassays provide important clinical decision-making information."

Molecular tests will also feel the impact, according to the report. Already replacing culture as the dominant technique for strain determination, molecular testing development and investment will be further driven by the importance of sufficient capacity and speed that a potential pandemic highlights.

Kalorama Information conducts independent market research in the life sciences, as well as supplying a full range of custom research services.

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