WHILE THERE WAS SOME JOCKEYING FOR NEW positions, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers remain entrenched in their market based on The Dark Report’s 2021 ranking of the Top 12 IVD Companies.
COVID-19 testing demand led to strong IVD growth in 2021. The top 12 firms took in $85 billion in annual revenue compared to our 2020 ranking, when the top 11 companies earned $61.3 billion.
There are shifts of note: Abbott Laboratories jumped to No. 2, while Danaher jumped five places to No. 4 based on strong sales. Also, PerkinElmer landed on our list.
Finally, at No. 12 is Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, which in December 2021 was acquired by Quidel. Quidel narrowly missed the 2021 list, but in the future, the combined company could hit the top five.
GLOBAL SALES OF IVD PRODUCTS WERE ESTIMATED to be $117.0 billion in 2021, an increase of 57.9% from the prior year. COVID-19 testing was a major factor in the performance of the IVD industry during 2021.
Roche Diagnostics, Abbott Laboratories, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Danaher—the top four companies on The Dark Report’s ranking of IVD manufactures—collectively hold 48% of market share in the IVD industry. This illustrates the domination of the “big four” compared to smaller players.
Abbott seized additional IVD market share in 2021, achieving $7.7 billion in global COVID-19 testing-related sales alone. As a result, it moved up to second on the list in 2021 from third in 2020 and has narrowed the gap between itself and Roche, the world’s global IVD leader.
In fact, Bruce Carlson, Senior Vice President at Kalorama Information in Arlington, Va., said during April’s Executive War College Conference on Laboratory and Pathology Management that Abbott hired about 1,200 people during the pandemic who were dedicated to COVID-19 test development.
“Abbott was positioned for COVID and grabbed it. They got in there and are now nearly tied [with Roche] in market share,” Carlson said.
