The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests market in South Korea is forecast to reach a peak market value in 2021 after declining by about 30% in 2020 due to COVID-19, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s report, HIV Tests (In Vitro Diagnostics) – Global Market Analysis and Forecast Model (COVID-19 Market Impact), reveals that HIV enzyme immuno assay (EIA) tests and nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) are the most commonly performed HIV tests in South Korea. These tests together accounted for more than 90% of the HIV testing market in 2020.

In 2020, HIV tests market was dominated by Abbott Laboratories, Siemens Healthineers AG and Roche Diagnostics International Ltd, which together accounted for around 65% of the total market in South Korea.

Bhaskar Vittal, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Although the incidence rate of HIV has stabilized, testing is expected to increase due to significant increase in the number of surviving HIV patients. This trend is largely attributed to the improvement in healthcare access for HIV patients and the success of antiretroviral therapy.”

GlobalData forecasts increase in HIV incidence cases to result in the higher number of suspected infection cases being tested due to improved disease awareness and continuation of strong screening initiatives.

Mr Vittal concludes: “HIV incidence and prevalence are not the only factors influencing the HIV tests market. The market is also heavily impacted by testing on pregnant women, semen donations, whole blood donations, and source plasma donations. The number of tests conducted on semen donations, whole blood donations, and source plasma donations have been impacted negatively in 2020 due to COVID-19. HIV testing is expected to bounce back strongly for these cases in 2021 due to disease containment efforts by the government and the availability of vaccines.”