US Markets for STD And Asthma Treatments

US sales of diagnostic and therapeutic products in the area of sexually-transmitted diseases will grow at an annual compound rate of 3% to the turn of the century, increasing from a value of $1.67 billion in 1993 to $2.05 billion in 2000, according to a new study from Frost & Sullivan.

Market growth will be fueled by two factors, the first of which is demographic changes, it notes. While some diseases have shown reduced incidence levels in the early 1990s, many of these are projected to rebound in the latter part of the decade as the population in higher-risk ages increases again.

The second factor for growth is the introduction of bioengineered drugs. For example, newly-introduced recombinant hepatitis B vaccines are safer than previous formulations, says the study, adding that if and when polymerase chain reaction diagnosis, using DNA amplification to detect diseases at an early stage, is conclusively shown to be more effective than current methods and its cost is brought down, it is likely to be the next step in advancing testing technologies.