MediPoint: Nuclear Imaging- PET and SPECT Equipment - Global Analysis and Market Forecasts, New Study on ASDReports

Nuclear Imaging Market Overview

• Aging population and increasing disease prevalence
• Increasing referring physician awareness
• Increasing defensive medicine
• Increasing patient awareness
• Increasing self-referral behavior
• Increasing implementation of comparative effectiveness research
• Improved accreditation of imaging facilities
• Availability of new imaging reagents ? Increasing demand for cancer diagnoses
• Increasing demand for imaging-based companion diagnostics
• Replacement of positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) by PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Replacement of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-only systems The key barriers of the global nuclear imaging market are:
• Legislation affecting reimbursements
• The lobbying efforts of medical insurance companies and consequent reduction in the number of procedures performed
• Greater scrutiny of electronic medical records by healthcare payers, leading to a reduction in the number of procedures performed.
• Increased use of appropriateness criteria, resulting in reduced examinations
• Practice guidelines reducing unnecessary procedures
• Loss of nuclear medicine skills
• High cost of instruments and reagents
• Supply difficulties and increasing cost of radio-pharmaceuticals
• Medical Device Excise tax increasing development costs
• Hospital consolidation reducing the number of scanning facilities

The nuclear imaging market is a moderately growing market with a 2014-2020 CAGR of 3.3% globally. It is a mature sector of the diagnostic imaging market; continued growth is expected along with continued technological developments and the emerging markets’ acceptance of products.

US Dominates the Nuclear Imaging Market 

In 2012, the US dominated the global nuclear imaging market, accounting for 69% of sales globally. The market is dominated by three companies: the market leader is Philips Healthcare with around 35% of the market by revenue, followed closely by GE Healthcare with around 33% of the market, and Siemens Healthcare at just under 30%. 

Demand for Nuclear Imaging in US to Become Static

The US is the largest market for nuclear imaging, in terms of the number of systems sold and the number of procedures carried out. However, a period of a rapid increase in procedures in the US, particularly PET and PET/CT, has led to measures to reduce the number of procedures that can be reimbursed, and thus reduce the demand for nuclear imaging systems. Prior to healthcare reform, the major threat to the US nuclear imaging market was the limited supply of radiopharmaceuticals. 

APAC to Foster Future Growth

APAC economies. especially China and Japan, will continue to provide immense opportunities for increasing sales within the global nuclear imaging market. GlobalData projects that Japan will increase its market share by 75% and that China will almost double its market share. GlobalData expects that the growth of sales in China will be attributed in part to the sale of more PET/CT and SPECT/CT systems, whereas in Japan, growth will be due to increasing demand for SPECT/CT and PET/MRI systems.

Future Outlook

The economic downturn has been a continued concern within the whole of the diagnostic imaging market. Indeed, the high cost of nuclear imaging equipment and procedures has made the nuclear imaging market more susceptible to the downturn. The market growth for nuclear imaging in the US and EU is heavily dependent on the replacement of already existing systems because, as is the case in most of the developed countries, the capacity for new installations is limited. As the US and EU economies recover, it can be expected that the equipment will be replaced. 

However, at this point in time, the key opinion leaders (KOLs) that GlobalData interviewed for this report indicated that not all equipment is replaced at the end of the average product lifecycle, negatively affecting sales in the US and EU markets. 

The rising prevalence of disease, an aging population, and a growing global population will act as major drivers of the increased use of nuclear imaging. However, cost-containment measures implemented by healthcare authorities will affect which nuclear imaging technologies are favored.

What do Physicians Think?

The report's author interviewed a number of KOLs in the nuclear imaging setting; they discussed a wide variety of points and concerns, providing insight into clinicians view of the technologies found in nuclear imaging, both existing and future. In addition, the KOLs provided viewpoints into the healthcare regimes related to nuclear imaging, and how these might affect access to imaging. Physicians provided insight into the major imaging modalities, PET/CT, SPECT/CT and PET/MRI. PET/CT will eventually replace many SPECT/CT procedures, but this is dependent upon progress in developing new radiotracer compounds.