Diagnostics labs find new growth vectors

As aschool student, Iwas often entrusted with the task of checking on my grandfather’s urine samples for sugar levels.

- AMBI PARAMESWARAN

The prevailing method then was Benedict's solution. You take some solution in atest tube, heat it in boiling water, or, as in my case, asimple wax lamp, adda few drops of urine, and watch the colour change. Ifit stays blue, that is good news, no sugar present. Green means trace amounts present. Yellow would indicate a moderate amount. Orange and red are danger indicators. My grandfather's insulin dose was titrated, based on the biweekly Benedict's solution-powered test.

Today, we can check sugar levels with asimple pin prick, one drop of blood. And the measurement device tells you the exact value of glucose in your blood when the test was taken. One can also use the CGM, which continuously monitors glucose levels.

Many ofus got acquainted with other tests like oxygenation levels, using the small device clipped to fingers, during the Covid pandemic.

Smartwatches, like Apple, measure your heartbeat, alert you to an irregular rhythm, and can also doan ECG or measure your sleep or blood oxygen levels.

With all these devices finding their way to homes, one would have imagined that the traditional mode of taking samples toa diagnostic lab would be waning. However, if reports are to be believed, the sector is booming. Reports estimate the size of the diagnostic labs industry to be in the region of $11-12 billion, and growing robustly. If you add the sales of diagnostic kits, the size could easily be thrice as large. How are they growing?