Prices, new applications propel $3 billion contrast agent market. (Industry Overview)

The $3 billion world market for contrast media will climb to a projected $6.5 billion by 1998, driven by the growing importance of diagnostics, a shift to non-ionic X-ray contrast media and an emerging domestic market for ultrasound contrast media.

Two new competitors are set to alter the MRI contrast media market. Berlex Laboratories Inc., Wayne, N.J., has monopolized that market since it released the first and only MRI contrast agent five years ago. But six months ago, two other major drug companies plunged into the MRI contrast agent market with formulas of their own. Releasing new products weeks apart were New York-based Sanofi Winthrop Inc., and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Princeton, N.J.

Contrast media for ultrasound could spurn a new U.S. market as soon as next year. Available in Europe since 1991, ultrasound contrast media could by 1994 receive the Food & Drug Administration clearance needed to enter the U.S. market. One large U.S. company has already begun developing an agent for this application, while another awaits approval on its formula.

Non-ionic X-ray contrast media

The highly-competitive non-ionic X-ray contrast media market is dominated by three players: Sanofi Winthrop, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Mallinckrodt Medical Inc., St. Louis, Mo. Sales of non-ionic agents were historically divided evenly …