Cytology tests demand in China expects to grow at double digit rates with increased

government prevention efforts and investment in new technology

China’s cytology market is worth nearly USD30 million in 2007 and expected to grow by over 15%
CAGR over the next 5 years.

China is still in the early stages of cervical cancer prevention. Its

immature prevention mechanism has resulted in one of the
highest incidence of the disease in Asia, where 100,000 women
are diagnosed with cervical cancer in China every year.
However, this situation is slowly changing as the government
step up efforts to raise awareness and enhance prevention
efforts.

A nationwide cervical cancer prevention program launched in

2005, has screened near to 1 million women free of charge. The
second phase of this program started in early 2008, saw the
expansion of free screenings and treatments to women in
remote rural regions in Western China. With stronger efforts,
Pap screening volume is expected to increase by double digit,
reaching over 4 million tests or USD40 million in 2010.

All free cervical health screening is conducted using

conventional Pap testing method. This low costs method is also
prominently used in tier 2 and 3 cities in China where
affordability remains a primary concern.

Liquid Based Cytology (LBC) testing is mainly performed in large Class 3 hospitals in tier 1 and 2
cities where the population is more affluent and the demand for accuracy is high. LBC Pap patient
price is 5 times higher than conventional Pap test charged to patients. The main reasons for hospitals
to switch to LBC are accuracy in diagnosis and ease of use, which reduces contamination and false
negative in the samples collected.

Cytyc’s Thinprep is the dominant system in the market for LBC tests followed by BD’s SurePath
system at a distant second place. Cytyc has been aggressively placing its systems for free in large
cytology laboratories in the last few years, which has seen its business grow to USD 4 – 5 million in
2007.

HPV screening tests currently represents only about 1% of total cytology tests. Digene is the dominant
HPV-DNA tests brand in the market. The push to increase screening in rural China has also seen the
development of easy to use HPV screening tests. The conventional smear technique that requires
well-trained cytologists to perform has proved to be a limiting factor in expanding screening efforts in
rural China. A new HPV-DNA test, called careHPV, designed to be performed by medical personnel

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 with minimal training is recently being piloted in Shanxi province. CareHPV is being developed with
Qiagen with support from PATH. A prototype is expected to be ready by 2009.

The overall prospect of Cytology testing remains good in China where double digit growth will continue
in the next 5 years. Innovative rapid testing products are expected to drive growth in rural screening
while automation and high accuracy products are expected to drive adoption in large laboratories in
urban Chinese cities.

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