Drug Testing Industry Sees Steady Expansion

June 13, 2017

Wellesley, Mass., Jun 13, 2017 – Steadily growing demand for substance abuse test equipment is a building block for medical technology companies, according to a new report by BCC Research, which forecasts both new applications and growing new segments for home testing and school-based tests. From 2016 sales estimated at $3 billion, the industry is forecast to reach nearly $4 billion annually by 2022, according to Drug Testing: Technologies and Global Markets.

Test equipment using blood samples, hair, urine, and other methods has limitations, such as detecting the presence of drugs but difficult to show levels, intoxication or impairment. And most existing test kits can detect only drug classes – opiates, methadone, cocaine, cannabinoids etc. – not specific drugs or their sources such as whether they are smoked, eaten or injected, the BCC Research report explains.

The testing market is estimated at $2.2 billion in the US in 2017 and $563 million in the European Union. An industry CAGR of 4.5% through 2022 is expected with urine and blood tests remaining market leaders. Increasing use of saliva tests may see a sharper growth in that emerging segment, the report concluded. Multinational corporations in the industry include Abbott Diagnostics, Siemens Medical Solutions, Beckman Coulter, Alere and Roche Diagnostics.

Research Highlights

• Onsite testing by law enforcement and first responders is a smaller market, compared with laboratory-based complex testing, but growth has been steady as employers or state laws dictate a drug-free workplace.
• By the end of 2016, 29 U.S. states and Washington D.C. had decriminalized or legalized marijuana use yet it remains illegal under federal law. Federal drug tests are mandate for millions of workers from airline pilots and nuclear power workers to military personnel.
• The United Nations estimates the drug user population at more than 200 million people, with opiates and heroin the most popular globally. In South America, cocaine is the primary drug of abuse.

"Throughout the U.S., state governments are making drug testing a condition for receiving certain benefits payments and drug law offenses – along with overdoses -- are on the rise so there are health implications, legal issues and other factors complicating this industry,” says Robert G Hunter, Senior Editor Healthcare, BCC Research. "Testing has been growing more common since the 1980s and the U.S. has, by far, the greatest demand – both onsite and in laboratory.”

Editors and reporters who wish to speak with the analyst should contact Steven Cumming at steven.cumming@bccresearch.com.

Drug Testing: Technologies and Global Markets( PHM013G )
Publish Date: May 2017    

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