To: +Richard N Lambert (297 )
From: +Janybird
Monday, Sep 15 1997 8:52PM ET
Reply #298 of 1903
Size of Market News
Chromatics Announces Analysis of Existing Market for Newborn Bilirubin Testing
Chromatics Color Sciences International Inc. today announced that it has completed its analysis of the existing market for bilirubin tests on newborn infants in the United States, and the approximate size of that market in the developed countries of Europe, South America and Canada combined, and Asia. The World Health Organization has published the current annual birthrate of approximately 4,000,000 births in the
United States, with approximately 10 percent of these births being premature infants. The company estimates that individual bilirubin blood tests on newborn infants (heelsticks), which are not part of a general panel blood test, total approximately 15,000,000 tests performed annually in the United States, based on data made available by the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, independent market studies commissioned by the company and business proposals from potential marketing partners.
(Cut and paste from the SPRX 10-Q)
The Infant Jaundice Screening and Monitoring Market
Of the approximately four million newborns each year in the United
States, approximately 50% have recognizable jaundice. Annually, approximately
1.7 million newborns receive at least one blood test for bilirubin. Of those
newborns tested, approximately 700,000 have elevated bilirubin levels, and a
portion of these newborns will receive additional tests.
My own research shows that of those babies who do get blood tests specifically for bilirubin, the average number of tests per newborn is about 3.5 tests. This is also the number that both Hambrecht & Quist and Volpe use. Multiplying 3.5 x 1.7 million = 5.95 million heel sticks per year in the US.
The difference here is not trivial. I will not be so bold as to suggest which firm has more of a "bet" on the jaundice market, due to a one-dimensional technology. However, a discussion (a civil one) of how the two numbers (6 million vs. 15 million)could be so different could be useful.
By the way, the reimbursement rate for bilirubin tests that ccsi made a press release of (cpt 82250)is a rate of roughly $6 per test. |
