Animal Pharm Reports
Veterinary Diagnostics & Equipment: The Global Market
Published September 2006
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CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
The US Food and Drug Administration provides the following useful definition of a veterinary medical device:
“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.”
The latter category is still fairly limited in veterinary medicine, other than a few small specialist firms selling catheters, occluders etc. The exception is endoscopes, which have both extensive diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities.
Otherwise, curing and prevention in animals tends to be done either via products that have “chemical action within or on the body” or via devices intended for human use and reconditioned for animals.
Another way of dividing the field is between biological or in vitro diagnostics and veterinary instrumentation. The former field is by far the better established, and often when reference is made to “veterinary diagnostics” it is these in vitro tools that the speaker has in mind. This field is the one more closely associated with other areas of animal health, particularly biologicals, and there are a number of firms that sell both therapies/drugs and in vitro diagnostics.
The instrumentation side of the market is less well established and has traditionally been dominated by ex-hospital, reconditioned equipment, if used at all. However, this is changing and many firms are now starting to produce sophisticated equipment developed with the different needs of the veterinary market in mind. Developers and firms tend to come from the electronics/engineering field rather than that of pharmaceuticals.
Finally, there is also an important distinction to be made between diagnostics aimed at livestock and those aimed at companion animals. The market drivers and constraints for the two sectors have significant differences, with the companion animal market being the one with the greater stability and potential growth. Most veterinary instrumentation products are aimed at this market. The livestock market is likely to decline as the disease situation improves; the relatively low value of individual livestock also limits innovation in this area.
Hematology and biochemistry analysis are two of the biggest areas in veterinary diagnostics, and the first ones in which veterinarians tend to invest. These include the many reagents and individual test kits used to diagnose infectious diseases, and are in common use in both livestock and companion animals.
Although a fairly large sector, BSE tests on slaughtered cattle are not included in this report, coming in under the remit of food safety rather than disease diagnosis. DNA genetic testing, although related to nucleic acid testing and with some potential for screening out diseases, also falls outside the scope of this survey.
Endoscopy and laparoscopy are also important in veterinary diagnosis, with many potential applications. Devices that vets need during surgery, such as oximeters, capnographs, anesthesiology equipment, blood pressure scanners and vital signs monitors, are all increasingly found designed specifically for veterinary use.
And new advancements in technology have given a real boost to the imaging area of radiography, ultrasound, and MRI, which are fairly easily adapted from human to animal use.
The pace at which diagnostic technology develops is rapid, with a continual introduction of improved products and tests for the diagnosis of new disease conditions and health status.
Products are judged by various criteria, particularly accuracy, ease-of-use, and speed. Improvements in these three crucial areas are the focus of much R&D, as are diagnostics for emerging diseases or unmet needs.
The market is still immature, with many small companies, a handful of mid-sized firms, and only one really large company dedicated to veterinary diagnostics. Consolidation is likely as the market matures and expands. The involvement and increased interest of many human medical divisions of large electronic firms will provide resources for the further development of radiography and ultrasound equipment in particular.
Many products in this area involve placing an instrument in the field and generating revenue from consumables, including items such as supplies and service that the instrument requires.
Major diseases of both livestock and companion animals now have some kind of diagnostic tool available. The scope for future development is significant, with areas such as proteomics, multiple disease diagnosis, and DNA-testing just some of the ways in which the sector is likely to advance over the next decade.
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