Blood: The Worldwide Market for Blood Products, Blood Testing, Blood Equipment, and Synthetic Blood Products

The global blood industry has experienced strong growth in recent years and although this brisk expansion will slow somewhat as products continue to mature and pricing pressures increase, growth will remain solid though 2017 as a result of aging populations in the U.S., Europe and Japan; ongoing technology advancements/new product introductions and indications; expansion of health coverage in the U.S. via health care reform; and continued strong promotion of blood donation by collection agencies.

Kalorama Information's Blood: The Worldwide Market for Blood Products, Blood Testing, Blood Equipment, and Synthetic Blood Products provides an analysis of all the key market segments involved in this industry, including products, equipment and testing.

A variety of infectious agents can be present in blood, including viruses (e.g., HIV-1, hepatitis B and C, HTLV, West Nile virus), bacteria, protozoans, Chagas disease, Lyme Disease and prions (e.g., the agent of variant Crueutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is the human form of mad cow disease). As of 2013, the main residual risk is due to hepatitis B virus - ranging from 10 in Spain to 1.6 per million donations in France and Germany – although other conditions such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) or HIV may pose high risk in certain regions.

Testing markets covered include:

• Blood Banking and Plasmapheresis Testing
• Blood Typing
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Testing
• Hepatitis A Virus Testing
• Hepatitis B Virus Testing
• Hepatitis C Virus Testing
• Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Testing
• West Nile Virus Testing
• Other Safety Testing

The market for human blood and blood components continues to expand as a result of the growing and aging populations, particularly in the developed nations. Aside from RBCs, other blood products are also often required in such procedures. Organ transplants, for example, typically require  platelets,  cryoprecipitate and  frozen plasma.  Synthetic blood products are not derived from human blood, but instead represent oxygen-carrying volume-replacement solutions. Although efforts are underway to develop artificial cells or to culture red blood cells (RBCs) from stem cells, present synthetic blood products do not contain cells, antibodies, coagulation factors, or any of the other myriad components of blood itself.  One of the primary reasons for their development is to ease the projected shortage in the blood supply. 

  Blood products covered in the report include:

• Red Blood Cells (RBCs)
• Immunoglobulins
• Albumin
• Other Plasma Products
• Synthetic HBOC and PFC Agents
• Recombinant Factors

Donated blood is collected by specialized collection centers. After collection, whole blood is separated into its three main components: red blood cells (RBCs), platelets, and plasma. Sometimes a fourth component called cryoprecipitate (a fraction of plasma highly concentrated in some clotting factors such as Factor VIII or antihemophilic factor, fibrinogen, and von Willebrand factor) is also generated. Several different types of organizations currently collect blood. While most operate on a not for profit basis, some pay donors.

Blood equipment revenues and forecasts are provided for:

• Blood Collection Equipment
• Automated Blood Collection Equipment

In addition to complete market data, including forecasts to 2017, the study reports:

• Product demand estimates by region
• Collection and transfusion estimates
• High-blood-loss procedure estimates
• Product pricing
• Reimbursement rates
• Epidemiology of key conditions requiring blood products
• Products on the market and in development

The report also provides discussions of the key trends, as well as the regulatory, business, and clinical challenges facing the various sectors; profiles of 23 major players in the industry are included.

The report profiles key companies in the industry, including:

• AABB
• Abbott Laboratories
• America’s Blood Centers
• American Red Cross
• Baxter International
• Bio-Rad Laboratories
• BioTime Inc.
• Gen-Probe Inc. /Hologic
• Fenwal/Fresenius Kabi
• Grifols Biologicals, Inc.
• Novartis Diagnostics
• Novo Nordisk A/S
• OPK BioTech
• Oxygen Biotherapeutics
• Perftoran
• Roche
• Sanguine Corp.

Sales estimates for each market segment represent global revenues and are expressed in current dollars. Estimates are provided for the historic 2007 to 2010 period and forecasts are provided through 2017.  Historical information for this report was gathered from a wide variety of published sources including company reports and filings, government documents, legal filings, trade journals, newspapers and business press, analysts’ reports and other sources. Interviews with company representatives were conducted to capture the perspectives from industry participants’ point of view and assess trends, and form the basis of the forecasting and competitive analysis.

Specifically excluded from this report are blood testing products not used primarily for blood donation and collection. For example, tests for blood banking represent about 12% of all immunoassay infectious disease tests (which include tests for HIV, hepatitis B and C and syphilis) and about one quarter of all nucleic acid tests (which include assays for West Nile Virus, HIV and hepatitis C).