Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market is projected to expand from USD 4.52 Billion in 2025 to USD 6.13 Billion by 2031, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.21%. This sector is characterized by the creation and supply of diagnostic methods and equipment designed to evaluate how effectively specific antimicrobial drugs work against pathogenic microorganisms. A key factor fueling this market is the rising global burden of infectious diseases, alongside the essential requirement for antimicrobial stewardship initiatives aimed at maintaining the effectiveness of current treatments. This demand is intensified by the urgent necessity for quick diagnostic results in clinical environments to enhance patient recovery and decrease the duration of hospitalizations.

However, market growth faces substantial obstacles due to the significant expenses linked to automated susceptibility testing platforms and the intricate regulatory frameworks required for their approval. These financial and procedural hurdles frequently restrict adoption, especially within healthcare settings facing resource limitations. The precarious nature of the therapeutic landscape was emphasized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations in 2025, which noted that only 10 new antibiotics or combinations received approval from strict regulatory bodies between 2017 and 2023, highlighting the essential need for precise testing to effectively manage resistance patterns.

Market Drivers

The increasing global incidence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) serves as the main force driving the Global Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market, creating a need for exact diagnostic instruments to direct successful treatment. As bacterial pathogens continue to develop defenses against standard medications, reliance on empirical prescribing has become risky, establishing a critical clinical need for susceptibility profiling to avert treatment failure in severe cases. This surge in resistance compels healthcare systems to depend heavily on sophisticated testing infrastructure to improve stewardship and patient results. In its 'Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report 2025' released in October 2025, the World Health Organization reported that antibiotic resistance increased in more than 40% of the monitored pathogen-antibiotic combinations between 2018 and 2023, emphasizing the vital reliance on accurate susceptibility data.

Concurrently, the market is receiving a significant boost from developments in automated and high-throughput testing systems that meet laboratory demands for speed and operational efficiency. Modern microbiology labs are quickly moving away from labor-intensive manual techniques toward fully automated systems that employ artificial intelligence to provide faster, standardized outcomes, thereby handling larger sample volumes without increasing staff. This transition to automation is reflected in strong industry performance; for instance, bioMérieux reported in its '2024 Financial Results' in March 2025 that its microbiology sales rose by 8.3% in 2024, largely fueled by higher reagent volumes and the uptake of automated solutions. The ecosystem supporting these innovations is also maturing, as evidenced by CARB-X in 2025, which noted that three supported products, including two new diagnostics, successfully entered the market, demonstrating effective R&D translation.

Market Challenges

The significant economic and regulatory hurdles present in the diagnostic industry are directly limiting the growth of the Global Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market. As manufacturers encounter increasingly intricate approval processes, especially for automated systems, the funds needed for compliance have escalated drastically. This regulatory burden shifts capital away from research and development, effectively halting the creation of innovative diagnostic instruments. As a result, many firms are compelled to postpone product introductions or exit certain regional markets altogether, restricting the reach of critical susceptibility testing solutions in healthcare environments where they are most essential for fighting resistance.

Recent industry data regarding the severity of these compliance expenses confirms this reduction in market activity. According to MedTech Europe in 2025, the costs for certification and maintenance of in vitro diagnostics under new regulatory standards have risen by as much as 100% compared to earlier directives. Additionally, the association noted that the selection of the European Union as a primary launch region declined by 40% among major manufacturers because of these obstacles. Such high barriers to entry directly diminish the commercial feasibility of new antimicrobial susceptibility tests, thereby impeding the overall growth of the market.

Market Trends

The integration of culture-independent molecular testing techniques is fundamentally transforming the market by eliminating lengthy culture procedures to identify resistance genes directly from clinical samples. This move toward genotypic profiling enables clinicians to detect specific resistance markers, such as mecA or vanA, within hours instead of days, greatly speeding up targeted treatments for sepsis and complex bloodstream infections. The commercial success of these advanced diagnostics is clear in recent industry results; bioMérieux’s '2024 Financial Results' from March 2025 show that sales of the company's BIOFIRE non-respiratory panels, which incorporate rapid blood culture identification assays, grew by 17% in 2024, emphasizing the increasing clinical dependence on rapid molecular testing for managing severe infections.

At the same time, the growth of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic solutions is decentralizing antimicrobial susceptibility testing, shifting critical analysis from central laboratories to the patient's bedside. This trend is fueled by the critical requirement for instant results in emergency and outpatient environments to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing and enhance stewardship prior to hospital admission. The scope of this decentralized infrastructure is expanding rapidly, as established molecular platforms utilize their large installed bases to deploy resistance assays; for example, Danaher reported in its 'Supplemental Earnings Information for the Fourth Quarter 2024' in January 2025 that its Cepheid division achieved roughly $550 million in respiratory revenue during the fourth quarter alone, highlighting the substantial operational capacity available for the wider adoption of rapid diagnostic tests.

Key Players Profiled in the Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market

• Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.
• Merck & Co., Inc.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
• Danaher Corporation
• bioMérieux SA
• Becton, Dickinson and Company
• ELITech Group SAS
• F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
• Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc.
• HiMedia Laboratories Private Limited

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market, by Product:

• Manual Tests
• Automated Instruments
• Consumables & Media

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market, by Technique:

• Automated AST
• Etest Method
• Dilution
• Disk Diffusion
• Others

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market, by Application:

• Drug Development
• Susceptibility Testing
• Others

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market, by End User:

• Hospitals
• Diagnostic Laboratories
• Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Companies
• Others

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

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