Molecular diagnostics are seen as being a major breakthrough in medical
science. While the technology itself has broad applications to such areas as
agricultural bioterrorism and environmental science, medical and medical
research applications have provided the primary focus. As a result, great things
have been predicted for the development and use of new therapeutics based on
molecular testing approaches.
The primary molecular diagnostics approaches are
based on two major database sciences (genomics and proteomics) and their
relationship to disease and metabolic processes (functional genomics and
functional proteomics). The genome or proteome that forms the basis for these
tests is very often of human origins, but may also be from a pathogen. As a
result, the breadth of application for molecular diagnostic is virtually
unlimited. With all this opportunity, however, progress has been slow in the
development, introduction and commercialization of molecular diagnostics. This
has been related to the difficulty and expense of performing such assays, and
the utility of the test procedures in the absence of substantive therapeutic
options based on the additional data provided by these assays.
This study
looks at the basis for molecular diagnostics in the fields of genomics and
proteomics; the technologies that are used to apply genomic and proteomic data
to the diagnosis of disease; the diseases and conditions that are primary and
secondary targets for this technology; the economics of molecular diagnostic
testing; and its potential impacts on medical practice and the diagnostics
markets over the next ten years. Number of tests, market potential, and
estimated cost per test is provided for each test for each of the 10 years.
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