The extension of health insurance coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act is cited as one of the factors that will drive US demand for in vitro diagnostic products in a recent study from the Freedonia Group. An aging population and rising incidence of disease states also will contribute to a robust 6.1% annual growth rate, according to an article in Industry Week that summarizes the report. Demand for IVD products is forecast to exceed $24 billion in 2016.

The introduction of improved reagents and instruments will drive demand in most IVD product segments, according to Freedonia. From the patient side, increased health screenings and diabetes self-monitoring in addition to the widening availability of integrated and point-of-care systems will boost demand.

Companion diagnostics will provide especially strong growth for immunoassay products, notes the report, which also predicts that demand for molecular diagnostic products will grow fastest among all IVD products.

A summary of the report can be found on the Industry Week site.