COVID-19 Impact on Scientific and Laboratory Equipment in Healthcare Industry
In 2019, in Wuhan city of China, an extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged and spread to the globe. The pandemic has made an unpredictable effect on daily lives as well as the global economic system. The effect on the healthcare industry has also been dramatically impacted and a huge pressure is being created on healthcare services that are already stressed across the globe. By introducing an international travel ban, transition to the distance education system, social distancing, selection and transportation limits, and the movement that urged everyone to "stay home," a vast variety of protective steps have been taken by various countries.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. This pandemic has resulted in increased travel restrictions and caused the shutdown of many businesses in countries in which these CRO and other scientific & laboratory equipment are given.
However, COVID-19 has made that more challenging for them to continue the services for these biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies. The COVID-19 has impacted the business of clinical trials and contract manufacturers which required scientific & laboratory equipment.
For instance;
· According to 2020 annual report of Syneos Health, the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse effects have impacted the locations where the company have their customers, suppliers, and partners, such as Europe and North America, and, as a result, we experienced pronounced disruptions in operations during the year ended December 31, 2020
IMPACT ON PRICE
Due to the impact of the coronavirus, many large pharmaceutical companies have placed new trials on hold and numerous small, mid-size, and large enterprises have suspended ongoing ones, thereby demonstrating the magnitude of the disruption. The decrease in the demand from the clinical trials and disruption of the supply chain also impacted the price during the pandemic.
For instance;
· Due to COVID-19, pharmaceutical companies revised research and development (R&D) spending is expected to decrease by 2%–3%. This will affect outsourcing to CROs and further decrease revenue across both segments of drug discovery and preclinical
IMPACT IN DEMAND
The diversion of resources to treat COVID-19 patients has significantly impacted the operations at most of the investigative sites where patients in clinical trials are recruited and treated. These scientific & laboratory equipment are extensively used in clinical trials for different scientific studies. Moreover, this has resulted in reduced trial starts and slowed new business awards, each of which results in decreased revenues for various companies.
For Instance;
· According to the U.S. National Institute of Health, to COVID-19, around 80% of clinical trials are running and after the COVID-19 outbreak, these clinical trials got canceled. The cancellation of the clinical trial has significantly decreased the market of these scientific & laboratory equipment providers
IMPACT ON SUPPLY
The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted the supply chains for scientific and laboratory equipment globally. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and its subsequent impact on restrictions on trade and movement of goods has resulted in a shutdown of vast portions of the global economy, resulting in disrupted supply chains due to limited materials and workforce, and slow down or stopping of manufacturing.
The scientific laboratory relies on an equipment provider, but sudden shutdown globally with a travel ban has disrupted this process.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
The large pool of the population is affected by this COVID-19 virus and its spread is expanding across the world for the last few months. To deal with the COVID-19 outbreak challenges, many advanced anesthesia monitoring devices market players are creating new strategies. To tackle the pandemic situation and increase the company revenue and growth, the company now opting for digital media such as telecommunication, mobile applications, webinars, and other digital media to support the patient requirement. Moreover, to accomplish the market demand, small market players utilizing the partnership agreement strategy. It is predicted that these strategies are anticipated to escalate up the company revenue and its growth in the forecasted period.
For Instance;
· Medpace has strategically handled the business during the pandemic as they tried to maintain Protocol specific covid-19 risk assessment process, site management, and monitoring, among others, support to the customers during the pandemic
· Charles River, a major market player also donated a sum amount of USD 30,000 to the COVID-19 relief fund
CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 has impacted the market of scientific & laboratory equipment negatively. Due to the cancellation of the clinical trial, the demand for scientific & laboratory equipment was also get disrupted. The major portion of these scientific & laboratory equipment market comes from the clinical trials, scientific laboratory and CRO’s which get badly impacted.
Hence, the COVID-19 has negatively impacted the scientific & laboratory equipment business but the strategic initiative of the market players is somehow gaining success in minimizing the loss in the net revenue or segmental revenue.
