IVD Industry Under Pressure in 2024 Earnings: More Than 70% of Companies Posted Losses

In early 2025, a growing number of listed in vitro diagnostics (IVD) companies published their 2024 earnings forecasts, and the pressure on the industry as a whole was unmistakable.

Earnings Overview

According to statistics from the 21st Century Business Herald, as of February 2025, 32 IVD companies had published 2024 earnings forecasts, of which only 8 reported profits and 24 reported losses, with the combined losses of the loss-making companies exceeding RMB 5.6 billion. Even industry leaders such as BGI Genomics, KingMed Diagnostics, and DAAN Gene did not escape unscathed, and some companies recorded their first annual loss since going public or in recent years.

Causes of the Losses

The industry generally attributes the losses to two main causes:

Fading demand for COVID-19 testing: Demand for nucleic acid testing has plummeted since the pandemic, leaving much of the capacity expanded to cope with the outbreak (test kits and instruments) idle. For companies whose main source of revenue was COVID-19 testing, routine business has been unable to fill the huge gap.

Procurement-driven price cuts and thinner margins: Volume-based procurement of IVD reagents continues to advance, with products such as tumor markers and thyroid function tests included in inter-provincial alliance procurement; product prices have fallen sharply, directly compressing manufacturers' margins and pushing the industry as a whole into a "price-for-volume" phase.

Lessons for the Industry

From a positive perspective, the wave of losses is forcing the industry to clear out inefficient capacity, accelerate product innovation, and shift toward higher-value-added segments. For reagent manufacturers, building differentiated product portfolios, improving cost and supply-chain efficiency, and expanding into overseas markets are key to navigating the industry cycle amid the normalization of centralized procurement and the return of demand to normal levels.