Nuclear Medicine Market – Global Industry Analysis, Growth, Share, Size, Trends, and Forecast

The global nuclear medicine market size was valued at USD 6.5 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 9.4% during the forecast period, 2021-2028. The growth of the market is attributed to the increasing occurrences of cancer to which the best treatment available to all patients is nuclear medicine sciences and diagnostics.

Nuclear medicine is the medical specialty that involves the application of multiple radioactive substances in the treatment and diagnostics of various complicated diseases and disorders. From nuclear medicine, a large variety of studies have been introduced such as the endoradiology where in the study of radiation emitting within the body over radiation from external sources such as X-rays are being identified from the patient’s body. Nuclear medicine is very similar to radiology, the only key difference being the focus of emphasis is on the function of the human body alone and not on their imaging anatomy. In other words, nuclear medicine studies the body functions with respect to any body, be it disabled or disfigured.Nuclear medicine has mainly found applications in diagnostic medical imaging and hybrid scanning techniques. According to the World Health Organization or the WHO, there has been 9.6 million deaths owing to irregular treatment of cancer. With nuclear medical diagnostics, the WHO believes that over 80% could have been saved and reported healthy. There has also been a significant rise in the cardiovascular diseases, as per the WHO report which states that more than 17.8 million have died and will increase north to 23 million by 2030.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the growth of the global nuclear medicine market initially. Researchers and scientists were not able to recognize the co-relation between the coronavirus and nuclear medicine. However, upon further research, they were able to identify that nuclear medicine along with the latest radiopharmaceuticals can help produce a permanent cure for the coronavirus. This steered to hospitals, clinics, and healthcare laboratories to focus more on the development of nuclear medicine radiopharmaceuticals for the prevention and treatment of diseases and this led to its market growth in the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Market Trends, Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities
Increase in occurrences of cardiovascular diseases which can be treated by nuclear medical diagnostics is the primary reason for the projection of boosting the global nuclear medicine market growth during the forecast period, 2021-2028.
There has been a significant increase in the research and development activities leading to technological advancement of nuclear medicine which can become a major factor boosting the market growth. The introduction of radiopharmaceuticals used in various techniques including molecular imaging, a method that involves to act a biomarkers for the specific molecular processes required for the determination of onset and progress of the disease.
High prices for the development of nuclear medicine and high cost of services from the company’s perspective is anticipated to hinder the global nuclear medicine market growth. This becomes extremely difficult to function in developing countries such as India, South Africa and Brazil where there is limited healthcare infrastructure.
Nuclear Medicine needs to be diagnosed on favorable environments and not all patients can be able to undergo this treatment. There could be the possibility of patients being allergic to radiotherapy methods at close range. This can hamper the nuclear medicine market growth.
R&D activities along with studies have shown that radiotherapy under the influence of nuclear medicine can be used for the treatment for complicated diseases including thyroid-related diseases, bone diseases, neurological diseases, and respiratory diseases. In July 2019, French investigators published their findings upon the demonstration of the hafnium oxide nanoparticle or the NBTXR3 to act as an enhancer for radio waves used for improving the response for soft-tissue sarcoma by using radiotherapy.