Market Overview

The business size of clinical laboratory reagents and equipment at leading companies in Japan in FY2021, based on the sales at domestic 35 leading companies developing clinical laboratory reagents and equipment, rose by 14.1% from the previous fiscal year to 1,237,800 million yen.

When separating the said business into that for domestic use and for overseas, the business for domestic use grew by 15.6% from the preceding fiscal year to 642,700 million yen, while that for overseas increased by 12.5% from the previous fiscal year to 595,100 million yen. In addition to the sales of general clinical laboratory reagents and equipment being on the recovery from previous fiscal year, considerable increase in demand for PCR and antigen tests for COVID-19 has led the sales at related clinical laboratory reagents and equipment companies to remarkably expand.

Noteworthy Topics

Expansion of Clinical Laboratory Reagents and Equipment Market

There are chiefly two methods to detect coronaviruses, i.e. genetic testing (mainly PCR method) and antigen testing. Antigen tests can be further categorized into rapid antigen test kit (qualitative) and quantitative antigen test. In Japan, since in the middle of 2020, supply of test reagents and equipment for PCR testing, qualitative antigen testing, and quantitative antigen testing has been in full scale, which led the testing to be carried out extensively in medical institutions and private inspection centers.

Judging from the sales at major market players, the domestic market size for genetic testing and antigen test reagents and equipment regarding new coronaviruses for FY2021 is estimated to have exceeded 180,000 million yen. In the first half of FY2022, increase in the number of infected cases caused by occurrence of omicron variant has expanded the demand for testing. Therefore, the special demand for new coronavirus testing has been continuing from the previous fiscal year in the industry of clinical laboratory reagents and equipment.

Future Outlook

The business size of clinical laboratory reagents and equipment at leading companies in Japan in FY2022, based on the sales at domestic 35 leading companies, is projected to rise by 10.1% from the previous fiscal year to 1,363,000 million yen in total, with the business for domestic use expected to grow by 8.0% and that for overseas to increase by 12.4% both from the previous fiscal year.

For new coronavirus testing, utilization of rapid antigen test kits has been increasing from 2022. They are being used not only for testing fever patients at medical institutions, but also for self-checks. Such increase in rapid antigen test kits for new coronaviruses is expected to boost the entire market of clinical reagents and equipment.

In addition, because of weaker yen in exchange rates, the sales of clinical laboratory reagents and equipment for overseas are expected to substantially expand.

Research Outline