Abstract
Overview:
Although an immature industry, only just beginning to find its own identity,
the global veterinary devices and diagnostics industry has started to grow in
recent years. It is an area of veterinary medicine that has considerable
growth potential and limited regulatory restrictions.
Profiling 70 of the leading companies operating in all aspects of the
veterinary diagnostic market worldwide, the report analyzes the size and
features of the diagnostics market in the context of the overall animal health
market, including an examination of market drivers and constraints and
regulatory issues.
The report looks beyond the diagnostic capabilities to examine ways in which
these tools can be useful therapeutically, and goes on to reveal the future
trends and opportunities of this emerging market.
Executive Summary:
Within the last decade, a new veterinary devices and diagnostics industry has
started to emerge. Although still a young industry that is only just beginning
to find its own identity, it is an area of veterinary medicine that has
considerable growth potential.
The US Food and Drug Administration defines a medical device as: "an
instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in-vitro
reagent, or other similar or related article, including any component, part,
or accessory thereof, which is intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or
other conditions; in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease
in man or other animals; or which is intended to affect the structure or any
function of the body of man or other animals. A device does not achieve any of
its principle intended purposes through chemical action within or on the body
of man or other animals, and is not dependent upon being metabolized for the
achievement of any of its principal intended purposes."
For veterinary applications, therapeutic devices (pacemakers, dialysis
equipment and so on) are still few and far between. However, the manufacture
and sale of diagnosis equipment for veterinary purposes - from hematology
analyzers and ELISA tests to ultrasound, X-rays, and MRI - is a significant,
growing market.
The industry is still largely unregulated, a fact that is conducive to the
creation of new players but creates problems for those who wish to distinguish
between what they perceive to be their quality products and cheaper goods,
often imports.
In 2006 the first dedicated industry association was formed in Europe to
address this kind of issue, but to date there is no similar industry
association elsewhere. Firms generally ally themselves with human devices or
biotech industry associations, despite having increasingly divergent needs.
The market is an immature one. Worth approximately US$2bn globally, it is
dominated by one large company. The rest of the industry is scattered in
mostly small and medium-sized firms; the wave of mergers and acquisitions that
has happened in the pharmaceutical industry has not yet occurred in this
sector.
Some players are divisions of human medical device firms that have discovered
veterinary applications for their products, often arising due to demand from
vets. A number of firms simply recondition equipment meant for humans, but
increasingly equipment is developed intentionally with animals in mind, as
companies have seen the potential of a relatively untapped market.
Another common kind of firm operating in this area are offshoots of veterinary
laboratories or state research institutes, which originally offered in-house
diagnosis and now have discovered markets for products that they can
manufacture.
It is still mostly a developed world industry, with the vast majority of
companies based in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. Large Japanese
electronic companies dominate the manufacture of electronic diagnostic
equipment such as ultrasound and x-rays.
As with the veterinary pharmaceutical market, there is a sharp division
between the livestock and companion animal diagnostic markets. Government
control limits the livestock diagnostic market, particularly in Europe, but
changing attitudes to pets in affluent countries that have led to a rise in
the amount owners are prepared to spend means the potential income from
developing sophisticated diagnostic kits and equipment for companion animals
is good.
Additionally, although a lot of diagnostic testing is still done at outside
reference laboratories, vets' desire to provide better healthcare in-clinic
means the uptake of in-clinic tests is likely to increase.
The use of diagnostic tests and equipment is now taught in many veterinary
schools and discussed at conferences, and is particularly popular among
younger vets - a good omen for the future.
The report examines the various kinds of veterinary diagnostic equipment
available - hematology equipment, biochemistry equipment including diagnostic
kits, endoscopes, oximeters, vital signs monitors, capnographs, cardiology
equipment, MRIs, radiography equipment, diagnostic ultrasound, blood pressure
scanners and anaesthesiology equipment. Technically devices can include
surgical implements, syringes etc but for the purposes of this survey these
will be omitted.
Profiles and contact details of 70 of the leading companies operating in all
aspects of the veterinary diagnostic market worldwide are listed. The report
analyzes the size and features of the diagnostics market in the context of the
overall animal health market, including an examination of market drivers and
constraints and regulatory issues. The major regional markets are analyzed in
more detail.
The report looks beyond the diagnostic capabilities to examine ways in which
these tools can be useful therapeutically, and goes on to reveal the future
trends of this emerging market.
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