Electrodes and microfluidics market to reach $9.5bn

The emphasis on screening and very early diagnosis is increasing, with healthcare fast focusing on ways to prevent high treatment costs. This is expected to lead to a boom in key sensor technologies, with microfluidic devices expected to grow to a $4.5 billion market and sensing electrodes to $5 billion in 2022, according to Lux Research.

Of the microfluidics market, $1.3 billion will accrue to material suppliers for glass, polymers and silicon. In the sensing electrodes market, material suppliers will garner $3 billion, or 60% of the total, for materials like functionalised adhesives and novel sensing elements.

“The medical device industry is responding to changing global health care demands,” said Milos Todorovic, Lux Research Analyst and the lead author of the report ‘A Materials Perspective on Medical Sensors’. “Medical sensors have emerged as key enablers for the shift towards decentralised healthcare, creating new opportunities for material providers.”

Lux Research analysts examined the drivers and barriers to growth for microfluidics-based sensors and sensing electrodes through 2022. Among their findings:

• Costs will be driven lower. Market dynamics and technical advances will drive the cost of materials for a microfluidic device 32% lower to about $0.50 in 2022, accelerating adoption. While glass will still contribute 50% to the total cost, the share of polymers will double to 10% as platforms using cheaper polymer-based consumables gain market share.
• Sensors penetrate markets new and old. Market adoption will happen in two distinct ways: replacement of existing centralised equipment, such as blood panel and urinalysis in the primary care physician offices; and opening new non-clinical POC markets, such as infectious disease diagnostics at home.
• An exciting range of advanced sensors is emerging. Novel sensors can go beyond physiological evaluation, studying emotions and moods, interpreting human voice to recognise behavioural markers, and even analysing facial expressions to monitor vital signs. Start-ups developing such technologies include Affectiva, an MIT spinoff; Cogito Corporation; and Asthmapolis.