Market Trends of Digital Pathology Industry
Disease Diagnosis Segment is Expected to Hold Significant Share Over the Forecast Period
Digital diagnosis plays a prominent role in diagnosing various chronic diseases as it helps determine and understand the cause of diseases. Digital pathology is on the verge of becoming a mainstream option for routine diagnostics. The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated social distancing restrictions boosted the digital pathology market. In January 2022, to advance the COVID-19 diagnostic reporting tools and speed up public use of diagnostic tools, Health and Human Services (HHS) organized a hurried, two-month build cycle using the "TOPx Toolkit" developed by the U.S. Census Bureau with 15 industry-led teams. This made it simpler for people and organizations to report positive/negative test results safely.
Globally, there has been an increasing burden of chronic and infectious diseases such as cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, influenza, orthopaedic and neurology disorders, leading to disability and negatively impacting people's physical and mental well-being. According to the British Heart Foundation statistics published in January 2022, there were approximately 7.6 million people with heart disease in the United Kingdom due to cardiovascular disorders (CVDs). Due to the rising burden of cardiovascular diseases, there is an increasing demand for innovative technologies diagnosing cardiovascular diseases, thereby driving the market's growth.
The integration of digital pathology with digital tools (barcoding, specimen tracking, and digital dictation) improvises the safety, quality, and efficiency of disease diagnosis in pathology laboratories. Digital pathology platform has a provision of instant sharing of whole slides to multiple pathologists, for providing their inputs in a case at a time. For instance, in January 2021, Roche reported CE-IVD launch of its automated digital pathology algorithms, uPath HER2 (4B5) image analysis and uPath HER2 Dual ISH image analysis for breast cancer to help determine the best treatment strategy for each patient. The image analysis algorithms use artificial intelligence to support pathologists in making fast, accurate patient diagnoses of breast cancer. Hence, with the advantages of using digital pathology for disease diagnosis, the segment is expected to grow at a steady rate in the forecast period.
Hence, owing to the factors such as increasing burden of chronic and infectious diseases and integration of digital pathology, the disease diagnosis segment is estimated to witness significant growth over the forecast period.
North America is Expected to Dominate the Digital Pathology Market Over the Forecast Period
The primary driving factors for the growth of the North American digital pathology market are the growing burden of chronic diseases, rising adoption of technologies in chronic disease management, increasing investments, rising product launches, and initiatives taken by the key market players. The United States within North America is expected to grow significantly during the study period. The rising burden of chronic diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and others is expected to boost the digital diagnostics market. For instance, the American Cancer Society, 2022 estimated that about 236,740 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in the country in 2022. The same source also states that 79,000 new cases of kidney cancer will be reported in 2022 from Kidney cancer. Furthermore, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) published in December 2021, an estimated 14 million adults in Mexico were living with diabetes in 2021. Also, as per a press release by the government of Canada published in August 2021, diabetes is one of the major chronic diseases affecting Canadians where over 3 million Canadians or 8.8% of the population were diagnosed with diabetes and 6.1% of Canadian adults were at high risk of developing diabetes as of August 2021. The high burden of cancer is expected to boost the demand for digital pathology, thereby driving the market growth.
The launch of products and services in the region will also drive the market significantly. For instance, in March 2022, Digital Diagnostics and Baxter International Inc. announced a long-term strategic partnership to help front-line care providers deliver high-quality care and improve care outcomes by offering Digital Diagnostics' IDx-DR autonomous AI software as a diagnostic service combined with the Welch Allyn RetinaVue 700 Imager. This combination can give providers a clear view of diagnostic information valuable for a treatment plan, thus driving the market.
Moreover, strategies such as rising partnerships, expansion, and increasing investments by major players in the market will also boost innovation in the region, thereby boosting the market in the region. For instance, in October 2021, Neuberg Diagnostics expanded its presence in the United States region by launching one of the first laboratory in the United States. The Neuberg Centre for Genomic Medicine (NCGM) ill focus on genomic and molecular testing based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques through digital pathology systems.
Thus, owing to the factors such as growing burden of chronic diseases, rising adoption of technologies in chronic disease management, and initiatives taken by the key market players, is expected to drive market growth in North America region during the forecast period.
