Turn on the television or open a women’s magazine these days and it is hard to miss the ads urging women to ask their doctor for a bone density test to check for low bone mass or osteoporosis. With new drugs on the market to treat osteoporosis, pharmaceutical makers know that diagnosing more women will mean more drug sales. Riding the same wave, bone densitometry manufacturers believe increasing public awareness also will help pull the densitometry market out of its current lull.
While raising public awareness is good for business, physicians say it is good for women’s health too. Only about 30 percent of women over age 50 have been tested for low bone mass, and many physicians say more women at risk for osteoporosis should be screened. But they also acknowledge that lack of public awareness is only one reason for the low numbers. Confusion surrounding bone densitometry results, physicians’ increasing time constraints and lack of physician awareness all play a role as well. Market analysts say that although the bone density market has been flat for several years, there’s plenty of room to grow.
Bare bones market
For years, physicians have told their patients to get plenty of calcium and vitamin D to ward off osteoporosis. In most cases, testing for low bone mass was unnecessary because few effective treatments were available no matter the result. But about six years ago, drug companies began coming out with new treatments to help women who showed early signs of osteoporosis, and physicians started screening women at risk for the disease.
With the increased interest and Congress’s authorization of Medicare reimbursement for bone density screening in 1998 for women over age 65 and at high risk, the bone densitometry market surged in the late 1990s. But the U.S. industry flattened out in 2000, says Monali Patel, medical imaging analyst for market research firm Frost & Sullivan, and she expects only a 5 percent increase in system sales in 2001. Frost & Sullivan recently announced that the osteoporosis diagnostic markets will accumulate revenues of nearly $127 million by 2006.
Please refer to the August 2001 issue for the complete story. For information on article reprints, contact Martin St. Denis
