The Blood Industry

A safe and adequate blood supply is essential to the practice of modern medicine. New advances, particularly in the area of automation, have enhanced both safety and blood availability and it is the purpose of this study to detail these advances and their impact on the blood industry.

Sales for the U.S. primary blood market, which includes the blood and blood components segment and the plasma derived segment, is currently estimated at $6.6 billion and is expected to approach $9.9 billion in 2010, rising at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 8.5%. A secondary market includes the products used for collecting, processing and transfusion. This segment will grow from over $1.8 billion to nearly $2.5 billion at an AAGR of 7% in the same time period.

Major findings:

• The driving forces impacting on this industry are the cost of collection and processing, technological advances, an aging population and the changes in the incidence of diseases and surgical procedures and catastrophes requiring blood transfusions.

• Safety of the blood supply is the primary issue. Testing of donations has been enhanced with the greater use of nuclear amplifications testing (NAT) methods.

• The emergence of recombinant coagulation factors has allowed for safer clotting factor products. Second and third generation recombinant products have entered the market.

• The use of automated instruments is growing and is now the primary method for blood and plasma collection. The ability to collect two units of rbcs (red blood cells) from a single donor is speeding up the donation process. Blood typing and disease screening has also benefited from automated instruments.

• An estimated 98% of the units of rbcs transfused have undergone leukoreduction.

• Vertical integration, mergers and acquisitions have resulted in a consolidation of the plasma sector resulting in only four major players.

• The industry is unique comprised of a mixture of FDA regulated for-profit and non-profit organizations.

• The American Red Cross remains the leading organization supplying blood although there is competition from community blood banks.

• Industry participants include Abbott, Baxter, Grifols Biologicals, Haemonetics, Immucor, Medimmune, and ZLB Behring.

• Forty of 58 (68.9%) recent patents granted in the areas of blood, blood derivatives and transfusion and nucleic acid amplification were for basic nucleic acid technology and nucleic acid devices and related methods.

U.S. Primary and Secondary Blood Market, through 2010
($ Millions)

* Collection and processing products including blood donor screening, blood typing equipment and supplies, collection & transfusion products, processing equipment, supplies and disposables.
Source: BCC, Inc.

U.S. Primary and Secondary Blood Market, 2005 and 2010
($ Millions)

* Collection and processing products including blood donor screening, blood typing equipment and supplies, collection & transfusion products, processing equipment, supplies and disposables.
Source: BCC, Inc.

(Ref : A soon-to-be-released updated report RC-071V The Blood Industry from Business Communications Company, Inc. (www.bccresearch.com ; Contact: Malika Rajan at (203) 853-4266; ext 309; publisher@bccresearch.com)

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