Rapid Micro Methods are Growing at Twice the Rate of Market Growth

According to a new market report entitled Industrial Microbiology Market Review—3rd Edition (IMMR-3), the industrial microbiology market in 2008 represented 1.5 billion tests with a market value in excess of $4.5 billion. The Report includes a thorough review of the global market along with detailed examinations into its six main sectors—food processing, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care products, environmental, and industrial process.

IMMR-3 projects that worldwide microbiology testing will continue to grow over the next 5 years and will reach almost 2.0 billion tests by 2013 with a market value of over $6.2 billion.

'The market value for these tests will grow at a faster rate than testing volumes. Driving this higher increase is a conversion from traditional microbiological testing methods to rapid methods,' says Tom Weschler, president of Strategic Consulting. 'These newer methods have a higher price per test but are being used more frequently because they provide faster results and/or ease-of-use benefits versus the traditional methods'.

Traditional methods currently account for 73.8%, or 1,101.8 million, of the tests performed worldwide in 2008 in the Industrial Market. Rapid methods (including convenience-based, immunoassay-based, and molecular-based methods) accounted for the remaining 26.2%, or 391.5 million tests.

By 2013, however, much will have changed. Traditional methods will still be the predominant methods used for over 1.3 billion tests, but will represent 68.8% of all tests, which is a reduction of 5.0% based on percentage of tests performed. All the types of rapid methods will make significant gains in usage during the coming five-year period.

When combined, the annual test volume of rapid methods will increase by over 55% from current levels and reach 607.8 million tests in 2013. The gain in the market value for these rapid methods will be even more pronounced than the testing volume increases since the rapid methods have much higher average prices per test than traditional methods.

It should be noted that the rate of change has been declining for rapid methods for each of the five-year periods starting in 1993. This fact is not at all contradictory with the market´s increasing adoption of rapid methods and is simply driven by the increasing size of the denominator used in the calculation.

In addition to the analysis of the six sectors of the industrial market, IMMR-3 also provides 'Special Situation' assessments of two important market opportunities for diagnostic companies: Bioterrorism and Healthcare Infection Control. These new segments are both timely and could represent significant testing potential. 'With such solid growth prospects, the industrial market represent a business opportunity that all diagnostic manufacturers need to understand and, where they are not currently present, possibly enter,' says Weschler. The Report contains the vital information required to facilitate the making and justification of such key strategic decisions.

The market research reports published by Strategic Consulting Inc. have become widely accepted by leading diagnostic manufacturers and investors as highly credible industry analyses.

IMMR-3 is over 220 pages in length and is presented in eighteen sections in a well organized,
easy reference report. Over 250 data tables, charts, and exhibits are clearly displayed and provide extensive insights into this market. The page-to-page format of the Report is structured with the right-hand pages typically presenting information in a graphical or pictorial display, with the left-hand page providing accompanying text. In addition, there are 25 competitor profiles included in this Report. Simply put, Industrial Microbiology Market Review—3rd Edition (IMMR-3) is the best market research report yet published by Strategic Consulting, Inc. (SCI).

From cover to cover, IMMR-3 has been designed to be a comprehensive, yet practical, decision making tool.

IMMR-3 is a follow-on report to Strategic Consulting's previous publications, the Industrial
Microbiology Market Review and Industrial Microbiology Market Review—2nd Edition, which were published in 1998 and 2004 respectively. As with all of SCI´s reports, IMMR-3 is based on information from a broad cross-section of sources internationally, including interviews with quality and safety managers at the processing plants in each of the six sectors, regulatory officials, industry associations and diagnostic companies.