MEDICAL TRICORDER MARKET SIZE AND SHARE ANALYSIS - GROWTH TRENDS AND FORECASTS (2024-2031)

The high development cost can hamper the global medical tricorder market growth. Developing a medical tricorder involves massive research and development investments as it requires integrating multiple advanced technologies like AI, sensors, imaging, and others into a portable handheld device. This level of multi-disciplinary integration poses significant technical challenges and requires extensive testing before the product can be commercialized.

According to the data by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it costs an average of US$ 2.6 billion to develop a new drug and bring it to market. Developing a medical device would involve costs at a similar scale considering a tricorder aims to diagnose diseases, monitor vital signs and function like a miniature medical lab. The high initial investments deter many companies, especially startups and mid-sized firms, from entering this market. Only large healthcare companies and well-funded research institutes possess the necessary financial resources to undertake such high-risk projects. Besides product development costs, extensive clinical validation is also required before a medical tricorder can be deployed for clinical use. Its diagnostics and disease detection capabilities need to be tested on large patient datasets and the results must be compared with current diagnostic methods. This clinical trial phase further increases expenses.

Market Opportunities: Growth in telehealth and remote patient monitoring

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth and remote patient monitoring on an unprecedented scale globally. As millions stayed home to curb the spread of the virus, virtual care options helped overcome barriers to access healthcare. According to the United Nations, over 1.57 billion online consultations were held worldwide from March 2020 to March 2021 as people utilized telemedicine to receive care and advice while maintaining social distance. This massive increase in digital health adoption can offer new growth opportunities. Tricorders could greatly assist the expansion of telehealth and remote monitoring technologies by enabling more comprehensive virtual care and decentralized healthcare delivery outside of traditional clinical settings. With their multi-diagnostic functionalities, medical tricorders could empower consumers and patients to reliably monitor their health, spot early signs of illnesses, and share vital signs and symptom data with providers for prompt virtual follow-ups and interventions. This promising application of tricorders could help bypass many limitations of conventional remote monitoring devices and address issues like device cost, usability challenges, and limited parameter monitoring. If integrated seamlessly with telehealth platforms, tricorders may facilitate more efficient virtual consultations, help manage chronic diseases better, and allow specialists to track high-risk patients more closely from a distance.