Prévalence des groupes et concentration de l'activité dans les secteurs de la biologie et de l'imagerie médicales : Mesure et enjeux

This paper documents the industrial structure and dynamics of two specific sectors that have experienced rapid technological change over the recent years. Medical biology has undergone a significant shift towards automation, a trend that started decades ago and which has likely been exacerbated by the substantial increase in testing demand during the pandemic. Conversely, medical imaging witnessed a substantial enhancement in the quality and potency of the equipment (e.g., MRI scanners) that became available to medical practitioners, but at a cost which remained high, thus limiting the scope for economies of scale. Relying on exhaustive data from 2016 to 2022, I show that both industries experienced increases in concentration and that this trend was driven by corporate group structures. However, the level of concentration is double in biology, compared with medical imaging. Secondly, the extremely high cost (relative to capacity) of medical imaging equipment has led to a vertical disintegration of the industry, which has split into entities specializing in equipment management, aka capital, and others specializing in the associated healthcare services provided by a highly skilled workforce. This pattern did not emerge in biology, where economies of scale driven by automation were arguably much larger.