Market Overview

The business size of clinical laboratory test reagents and equipment at leading companies in Japan in FY2019, based on the sales at domestic 35 leading companies developing clinical test reagents and equipment, rose by 2.0% from the previous fiscal year to have attained 1,095,700 million yen. When separating the said business into that for domestic use and for overseas, the business for domestic use grew by 0.7% from the preceding fiscal year to 550,700 million yen, while that for overseas increased by 3.5% from the previous fiscal year to attain 545,000 million yen. While the business for overseas was brisk stemming from the stable OEM sales together with temporary increase in demand for clinical test equipment supplied at a specific company overseas. On the other hand, the growth of domestic use slowed down as influenza epidemic ended at a minimal degree, which led the entire business to end up at low level.

Noteworthy Topics

COVID-19 Pandemic Obviously Discouraged Patients to Visit Doctors

The business size of clinical laboratory test reagents and equipment for domestic use remained at slight uptick against the backdrop of growing senior population and preventive medicine continuously being the priority measures for the government, covering decreased unit price per test by providing increased number of tests. However, around the end of FY2019 when spread of COVID-19 infections became obvious, the number of specimen testing has started decreasing. Also, there have been some signs of people avoiding medical checkup or refraining from seeking diagnosis for general medical treatment. Dereased number of infectious-diseases patients other than COVID-19 has been influencing the business of clinical laboratory test reagents and equipment.

Although some special demand has been generated to increase the tests for PCR, antigen examination, and antibody aiming at detecting COVID-19 infections, the size of the demand is expected not to be able to cover the fall of entire business size for FY2020.

Future Outlook

The business size of clinical laboratory test reagents and equipment at leading companies in Japan in FY2020, based on the sales at domestic 35 leading companies developing clinical test reagents and equipment, is expected to decrease by 5.9% from the previous fiscal year to attain 1,031,000 million yen, with the size for domestic use to decline by 5.8% and overseas by 6.1% both from the previous fiscal year.

The business in FY2020 is significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as general follow-up observation of patients has been refrained, and testing for infectious diseases other than COVID-19 has been substantially decreased. This is likely to diminish the specimen testing for existing items by 9% from the previous fiscal year. On the other hand, the new market has been launched with the release of PCR test reagents and antigen examination test reagents for COVID-19. The market as a whole is expected to decline by 6%, when considering the boost of such test reagents by 3% to the entire business of clinical laboratory test reagents and equipment.

Research Outline