Product Development & Commercialization Is the Key Strategy Adopted by Leading Market Players to Foster Growth in the Global Clinical Microbiology Market

bioMerieux S.A. (France) held the leadership in the global clinical microbiology market in 2015. The company has a broad product portfolio of clinical microbiology products, including state-of-the-art instruments (such as VITEK system, BacT/ALERT 3D Microbial Detection System, VIDAS system, and FilmArray multiplex PCR system), reagents (such as BacT/ALERT Culture Media, chromID Range medium, Chromogenic Media, and RAL Stainer), and laboratory consumables. The company has a strong geographic presence in more than 150 countries across the globe, with key markets in the U.S., China, Germany, and the U.K. It focuses primarily on product development and commercialization to develop state-of-art clinical microbiology technologies and to strengthen its market position. In line with this strategy, the market witnessed several product launches by BioMerieux S.A. in the last three years—such as launch of VIDAS 3 immunoassay system (June 2013), VITEK MS diagnosis kit (August 2013), VIDAS C. difficile GDH infectious disease assay (February 2014), FilmArray Gastrointestinal (GI) panel (May 2014), and chromID Salmonella Elite culture medium (September 2014). BioMerieux S.A. also focuses on the agreements, collaborations and partnerships as a key growth strategy.

Danaher Corporation (U.S.) held the second position in the global market in 2015. The company has a strong foothold in the clinical microbiology market with a broad range of instruments and reagents. In order to strengthen its current position and gain a larger share in the clinical microbiology market, the company focuses on inorganic growth strategies such as acquisitions and collaborations. In line with this strategy, during 2012-2015, the company acquired several key market players in the clinical microbiology segment, including clinical microbiology business of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics (U.S.) (July 2014) and Xitogen Technologies, Inc. (China) (April 2014). This helped the company to increase its market share and to expand its product offering in the clinical microbiology market. Additionally, Danaher Corporation entered into supply agreement with Seegene Inc. (South Korea) to manufacture reagents designed exclusively for Beckman Coulter’s (a wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation) molecular diagnostics instrument, the VERIS MDx System. This helped the company to strengthen its distribution network across Asia-Pacific clinical microbiology market.

In the global clinical microbiology market, leading players adopted various growth strategies such as product approvals, launches, and enhancements; agreements, collaborations, and partnerships; acquisitions; and geographic expansions. Market players adopted these strategies to develop innovative and technologically advanced microbiology testing products, expand their product portfolios, enter emerging markets, and increase their market shares. In addition to the top five market players, companies such as Bio-Rad Laboratories (U.S.), F. Hoffman-la Roche (Switzerland), Alere Inc. (U.S.), Bruker Corporation (U.S.), and Hologic, Inc. (U.S.) adopted agreements, collaborations, partnerships, new product launches, and product development as their key growth strategies to widen their product offerings and strengthen their distribution networks in global clinical microbiology market.