Diagnostics

Sexy new technologies are not yet appearing in diagnostics, the technology used to determine whether someone is infected with HIV. The bulk of this market, which Frost & Sullivan estimates at $83.2 million a year in the United States, belongs to companies that use HIV surface and core proteins for ELISAs, the enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay, commonly known as the HIV antibody test. Frost & Sullivan reports that Abbott has locked up 55% of this market. Sanofi Winthrop follows with 21%, and the rest goes mainly to Ortho and Organon Technica.

Blood banks are the biggest customers, using 41 million tests annually, according to Frost & Sullivan, that cost a minimum of $1.29 per ELISA. Another 1 million or so people a year get tested voluntarily. Positive samples go through additional confirmatory ELISAs, as well as a Western blot test, which detects HIV proteins directly. In May, the FDA gave Johnson & Johnson and Chiron the green light to begin marketing Confide, the first kit that allows people to take a small blood sample at home and then send it in for an analysis. The test retails for about $40.