1.1 Definition and presentation

Medical biology laboratories (LBMs), formerly known as medical analysis laboratories (MLAs), are places whose function is to perform medical diagnosis and monitoring based on samples of various human biological fluids. They are run by biologists.

The market for medical biology laboratories can be segmented according to the presence or absence of certification, inspection, testing and accreditation of the laboratories themselves.

Globally, the medical biology laboratory market is expected to grow to a value of about $303.1 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 5.1 percent.

There are about 33,000 people working within this market in Italy.

The difference between accredited and non-accredited laboratories also falls in turnover. The turnover growth rate is much higher in accredited entities. In addition, accredited laboratories are considered much more efficient and with higher labor productivity.

it is important to consider the positive contribution that the medical biology laboratory industry makes to the development of the National Health Service. This industry has significant rates of investment in research and innovation, which are fundamental to the development of Italy's healthcare and economy.

The largest biomedical center can be found in Mirandola (Emilia Romagna). Northern Italy is in general the area where companies and turnover in this market are most concentrated. In Central Italy, most of the laboratories are concentrated in Lazio and Tuscany while as far as Southern Italy is concerned, we notice a smaller presence in general except for Campania, Puglia and Sicily.

This type of industry is extremely important at the healthcare level, and this was also demonstrated by the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which exposed all the flaws in the system and reiterated how necessary it is to invest in research and scientific innovation in order to increase the speed and accuracy of the medical tests that these laboratories perform.

1.2 The Global Market

The global clinical laboratory services market has been valued at $***.* billion in **** and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate(***) of *.* percent from **** to ****, to reach a value of ***.* billion.

Several dirvers will drive market growth, such as the increasing burden of chronic diseases and the growing demand ...

1.2 The Italian Market

In Italy in **** a total of **** outpatient/laboratory type health facilities were surveyed : the percentage of public facilities varies widely at the regional level; in general in the Central and Southern Regions there is a prevalence of accredited private facilities. An opposite situation is recorded with regard to other territorial facilities ...

1.4 Impact of Covid

Testing laboratories have been at the center of the global pandemic. it is clear that they have not been overly affected by the crisis, benefiting both from the continuity of business even during containment and from the increased demand for Covid-** testing.

There are several testing laboratories that, indeed, saw their ...

2.1 The main drivers of demand

Several drivers can drive the demand for private clinics in Italy. We can find two main categories, demographic characteristics of the Italian population and income characteristics .

The age distribution andmedian age of the Italian population are also important factors to consider in order to better understand this market and its ...

2.2 Geographic Distribution of Demand

In total, the number of laboratory tests in Italy in **** was ***.* million, a decrease of **.*% compared to ****. The number of tests performed has been decreasing over the years, marking -**.*% between **** and ****.

Number of clinical biological and chemical analyses, by year Italy, **** - ****, in millions of analyses Source: ****

Veneto

Lazio

* ...

3.1 Market Structure

In total, there are **** facilities in Italy surveyed under the Ateco Code"**.**.** Clinical Analysis Laboratories." The number of laboratories in Italy has been growing over the past * years, with +**.*% of laboratories between **** and ****. Interesting to note is the strong growth in the number of laboratories in ****, following the pandemic, with +*.*% of ...

3.2 The Staff of Medical Laboratories

Staffing of medical laboratories has been steadily increasing over the years. In ****, there were about **,*** staff, an increase of **.* percent over the past * years and fully in line with the increase in the number of enterprises in the sector. The average age of staff in the technical area is **.* years and ...

3.3 Geographic Distribution

As we have already seen, clinical analysis laboratories can have either a public form, and thus be funded and run by the state, or a private form. Regarding the laboratories under study in this analysis, there are **** public medical biology laboratories in Italy and **** in private form. The following map shows ...

4.1 Breakdown of medical biology expenses by pathology

Nearly **% of laboratory expenses are general expenses not related to a specific disease. These are routine care, analgesic treatments, occasional hospitalizations, etc. As for the rest of the expenditures, cardiovascular disease and cancer are the largest items with *.*% and *.*% of total expenditures, respectively.

These observations are logical, since the focus of ...

4.2 The different types of Laboratories

Two types of laboratories can be distinguished in the market:

Routine biology laboratories

Nonspecialized laboratories are the most prevalent in the area. Their role is to meet the classic demand for medical analysis. These laboratories are often clustered around technical platforms. A place that collects equipment shared by different health institutions, ...

5.1 Regulation

In Paragraph ***, Article * of Law No. ***/****, Finance Act ****, laboratory medicine activities are defined as follows : The activity of laboratory medicine provides information obtained by chemical, physical or biological methods on tissues or fluids of human origin or on materials related to human pathology, for the purpose of prevention, diagnosis, monitoring of ...