How is the diagnostics market in India vis-a-vis the global market?
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| Michael Reitermann |
Globally, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) remains a sustainable and attractive market, with anticipated mid- to long-term growth at approximately four per cent. Demographic shifts along with an increasing value being placed on diagnostics in preventive care and therapy guidance are key drivers for this positive outlook.
In India, the IVD industry is still in its early stages, yet, it is quickly expanding. The current market is experiencing steady double digit growth and a once highly fragmented competitive IVD manufacturer landscape continues to consolidate. Additionally, the market is rapidly implementing advanced laboratory automation solutions in the higher-end segments. These signs, coupled with the fact that healthcare in India is becoming more accessible and affordable to the general population, keeps us excited about the growth prospects in the country.
What are the trends reigning in the healthcare diagnostics market in India?
Despite downward cost pressures resulting from the ongoing global economic environment, India’s growing middle class is forcing the country’s entire healthcare market, including its IVD market, to expand, so more people can access quality, affordable care. Additional drivers forcing this upward trend include broader access to healthcare insurance, accreditation, more public-private partnerships, market consolidation and changing disease patterns.
India’s established clinical laboratories are also beginning to more aggressively elevate their quality standards and maximise productivity of their existing lab footprint: two goals that align very well with the Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics portfolio and Siemens’ recently launched Agenda 2013 programme.
India is primed for enhancements to its clinical laboratory infrastructure and Siemens is poised to be a close partner in this period of growth.
What are the opportunities and challenges offered by the Indian diagnostics market?
India offers a number of opportunities, along with some challenges, towards further growth of its IVD market.
The opportunities are clear: a noticeable increase in government healthcare spending, coupled with rising income and education levels, are priming the country for a major influx of IVD testing solutions, made available to a much larger population segment than ever before.
Leveraging our strong reputation and installed base across the country, we see opportunities to further expand the range of Siemens solutions and services for our Indian customers, particularly in areas like microbiology, haematology and point of care. At the same time, we’re also targeting new business, especially in burgeoning urban settings, where there are large concentrations of people with increasing life expectancies who need access to quality, affordable clinical laboratory tests.
However, obstacles do remain that may limit India’s IVD growth potential. They include an evolving country-specific IVD regulatory framework, a volatile healthcare insurance network, fluctuating currency exchange rates and shifting import rules.
Tell us about the products offered by Siemens’ Healthcare Diagnostics division which would assist in curbing the growing disease burden in India by offering early, fast yet accurate diagnoses.
Siemens’ broad spectrum of immunoassay, chemistry, haematology, molecular, urinalysis and blood gas testing systems, in conjunction with automation, informatics and support services, are positioned to work together to deliver fast, highly precise results to help clinicians quickly diagnose and treat disease.
While India’s disease profile is expected to begin shifting over the next decade, communicable diseases (including infectious diseases) are still the main cause of death in the country. Viral hepatitis remains one of India’s most prevalent diseases, with estimates that nearly 20 million Indians are Hepatitis B carriers and about 8-10 million may have Hepatitis C infection.
As an example, Siemens delivers a comprehensive hepatitis disease management portfolio to provide crucial serologic test results with excellent sensitivity and specificity, minimising the need for repeat confirmatory testing. Our molecular diagnostic viral load monitoring and genotyping assays provide physicians with critical information that aids in optimising treatment decisions.
How does Siemens’ Healthcare Diagnostics division play a role in improving the quality and productivity of healthcare delivery in India?
As India continues to grow and update its healthcare infrastructure, it must do so with an equal focus on cost and quality in order to be sustainable and effective.
Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, a global leader in in-vitro diagnostics, is providing healthcare professionals in India with vital information required to accurately diagnose, treat and monitor patients. Our innovative portfolio is allowing hospital, reference and physician office laboratories and point-of-care settings to streamline work-flow, enhance operational efficiency and support improved patient outcomes by providing a robust menu and new innovative tests.
Elaborate about the whole concept of Siemens’ “Agenda 2013”. What role would your division play in achieving the goals set by Agenda 2013?
The Agenda 2013 programme was launched by Siemens in November 2011 as a two-year global initiative to further strengthen the innovative power and competitiveness of the company’s healthcare sector. As part of this, specific measures are being implemented in four fields of action: Innovation, Competitiveness, Regional Footprint and People Development.
One of Agenda 2013’s principal focuses is addressing the needs of emerging markets, including India and China, where Siemens is identifying ways to deliver local value-add services to our portfolio. We are excited about the growth prospects of India’s IVD industry and are committed to putting the required resources in place to further strengthen our market position there.
At the same time, the Diagnostics division has also launched its ‘Competitiveness Program’ to closely align with Agenda 2013 and enable the business to drive innovation leadership, become more competitive and improve financial performance. This programme is the next logical step in a rigorous process to create a more sustainable, healthy future by fostering an environment that will allow us to gain business efficiencies, increase productivity and reduce costs to secure our competitive market position. Both Agenda 2013 and the Diagnostics Competitiveness Programme remain underway and many targets have already been achieved.
In March 2012, Siemens’ Healthcare Diagnostics division embarked on a partnership with ViiV Healthcare and Tocagen to develop diagnostic tests for HIV and brain cancer respectively. Can you give us details about the progress of these partnerships?
The companion diagnostics partnerships Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics formed with ViiV Healthcare and Tocagen were milestone achievements for our company. Siemens’ presence in the emerging companion diagnostics market enables us to leverage our innovation capabilities and deep clinical knowledge to help improve pharmaceutical drug safety and effectiveness. More so, it helps align Siemens with new classes of therapies tailored to the individual that hold the promise of improving patient care and delivering on the goal of personalised medicine.
We continue working closely with both companies on the development of highly accurate in-vitro companion diagnostics tests compatible with their individual drug-therapy counterparts.
Additionally, Siemens remains interested in further ventures into companion diagnostics and is actively exploring additional partnership opportunities.
Are there any more such deals in the pipeline with Indian firms Please understand that we do not speculate about this.
What are the new launches from the Healthcare Diagnostics division in the pipeline for the Indian market? What is the projected timeline to their launch?
Leveraging our strong local manufacturing capabilities in India and collaborating with our Corporate Technology research arm in Bangalore, Siemens is in the advance stages of launching new chemistry analysers for low-volume markets.
We’re also planning the eventual launch of an immunoassay analyser for low- to mid-volume laboratories that will specifically address the needs of emerging markets.
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