Market Overview
Cell-based assays are commonly used analytical tools to measure the cell proliferation, viability, cytotoxicity, production and screening of compounds. Owing to the rise in cases of chronic disorders and increasing inclination of the government organizations and private firms funding in the health sector, there has been a consistent high demand of new therapeutic drug discovery. In this regard, the cell-based assays have advantage over the conventional animal based models for drug discovery. Cell-based assays utilizes live cell models to investigate the cellular mechanism when exposed to external stimuli and provide precise information about the intracellular molecular targets required in drug discovery screening. In contrary to the animal based methods, the resultant toxicity and safety measures in cell based assays are monitored at an early stage of an experiment, hence it reduces the additional cost that can be generated due to high failure rates if monitored at a later stage of an experiment. In combination to high-throughput screening techniques, cell- based assays have gained its interest in the area of research and development for primary as well as secondary screening. However, cell-based assay’s experimental instruments and kits are expensive and require high skilled professionals to conduct the procedures as the cost of experimental procedure is relatively high. This acts as one of the key restraining factors governing the cell-based assays markets.
The cell-based assays market is segmented based on product, application, and end user. On the basis of product, the market is categorised into consumables, instruments, services, and software. Consumables is further sub-categorised into reagents, assays kits, microplates, cell lines, probes and labels and other consumables, and is expected contribute the largest share to the global market in 2016.
Based on application, the global cell-based assays market is categorised into drug discovery, research studies, Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion (ADME) analysis, predictive toxicology, and other applications. The drug discovery segment accounts for the largest share of the global cell based assays market in the year 2017.
Based on end user, the cell-based assays market is segmented into pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies, academic and government institutions, contract research organisations, and others. Among the end user segment, the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies are expected to hold the largest share, and are likely to witness the fastest growth rate during the forecast period.
Market Dynamics
Growth Drivers and Restraints
The global cell-based assays market is anticipated to grow on account of rise in the incidence of chronic diseases, increasing public and private intervention in the area of research and development, inclination towards cell-based assays over traditional biochemical assays, and a sustained increase in the drug discovery activity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 out of ten causes of death were due to chronic ailments, in 2014. Additionally, the cell-based assay techniques have many advantages over conventional methodology. The continuous advancement in technological products under cell-based assay along with their cost effectiveness are the major drivers of the growth of global cell-based assays market.
The stringent intellectual property rights, the need of high skilled professionals to perform the cell-based assays processes, and the high cost of apparatus are some of the factors restraining the growth of the global cell based assay market.
Opportunity
Certain factors such as, the involvement of developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region such as China and India, advancement in technology such as emergence of 3D cell-based assays, increase in demand of toxicological testing of screened compounds in drug discovery along with the varied application of cell-based assays present a vast opportunity for the manufacturers in the global cell-based assays market.
Insights by Geography
Geographically, North America has been the largest region in the global cell-based assays market, mainly attributable to the high public and private funding in the research and development field of cell-based assays market. North America is expected to remain the largest market in the global market during the period 2017 – 2023, followed by the Europe. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period with, countries such as China, Japan and India expected to be the growing centers of the cell-based assay market in the region.
Competitive Landscape
The global cell based assays market has witnessed several collaborations in the recent years, these collaborations were primarily aimed at gaining technological advancements and competing with the other manufacturers operating in the global cell based assay market.
In March 2017, BioreclamationIVT acquired TransCell Science adding cell-based assays for phenotypic screening into its portfolio. In November 2013, Argos Soditic announced its acquisition of Ciscio Bioassays to grow its presence in the cell-based assays market.
Some of the other major players operating in the global cell-based assays market include Merck KGaA, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Promega Corporation, Danaher Corporation, GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., BioTek Instruments Inc., Lonza Group, ProQinase GmbH, Charles River Laboratories Inc, Cisbio Bioassays, Miltenyi Biotec, Cell Biolabs, Inc., DiscoverX Corporation, BioAgilytix Labs., Enzo Life Sciences, Inc., Aurelia Bioscience Ltd., Selexis SA, and QGel SA.
