Digital PCR (dPCR) Technologies Set to Drive PCR Technology Market
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a dynamic technology used in the amplification of the DNA to create identical copies at a very short period of time. The advent of PCR during 1983 has transformed the medical science and other biological field radically. Since then, PCR has become an essential part in the various biomedical research fields such as forensic science, DNA cloning, prenatal testing, gene expression analysis, and diagnosis of hereditary disorder and infectious diseases. IQ4I Research & Consultancy analysis estimates that global PCR technologies market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 8.9% to reach $15,421 million by 2022.
Increasing demand for early diagnosis of diseases, rising demand for PCR in genetic and molecular testing, expiry of key players’ PCR patents, rising investments in the field of companion diagnostics, advent of digital PCR, increasing RT-PCR based food safety testing, increasing affinity for automated high throughput, robotic systems and multiplexed analytical strategies for improving sensitivity and speed of PCR technology are some of the factors that are helping the upward growth of the PCR market. However, the high cost of commercial PCR assays and lack of awareness of usage of PCR in healthcare diagnosis in developing countries and requirement of skilled labours for operating PCR are few drawbacks that are hampering the market.
The global PCR market by technique is segmented into standard PCR, real-time quantitative PCR, reverse transcriptase PCR, digital PCR, assembly PCR, multiplex PCR, hot start PCR and others. Digital PCR is the latest, emerging, and innovative technology with high sensitivity and accuracy compared to conventional real-time PCR for nucleic acid detection and quantification. The advances in nanofabrication and microfluidics that can partition the sample even to nano and picolitres have led to the development of digital PCR.
The PCR products market is extremely competitive. In terms of product type, the PCR market is classified into instruments, reagents and consumables, software, and services. Increasing research in various fields has increased the use of the reagents and consumable in PCR industry. Various PCR software is available which has made the analysis of the PCR data and Primer designing much easier.
PCR application is identified in fields like clinical diagnostics covering both infectious and non-infectious segments, and industry applications covering, agricultural biotechnology, applied sciences, biomedical research application and others. The industrial application for the PCR is occupying major share due to increased use of PCR based food safety testing, environmental safety testing and forensics. The increase in the requirement of the early detection and diagnosis of the various life-threatening diseases like cancer, HIV, hepatitis B & C, tuberculosis is driving the market for PCR in healthcare. Various government initiatives are driving the use of PCR in the biomedical research and Clinical Diagnosis of disease. For instance, the latest application of PCR is seen in cell-free DNA technology (cfDNA) which is used in prenatal diagnosis of disorders in the foetus, to check transplantation rejection symptoms by donor-derived cell-free DNA (ddcfDNA) and to check presence of any tumour in the body by circulating tumour cell-free DNA technology (ctDNA).
Major players in the market are acquiring start-up companies, small players, existing businesses or funding research to maintain leadership. For instance, ThermoFisher scientific, a global leader in serving science acquired Affymetrix, Inc (U.S.), a leading provider for products of cellular and genetic analysis for a deal of $1.3 Billion. Similarly, Merck KGaA acquired Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (U.S.), a multinational biotechnology company for $17 billion.
In coming years, Droplet digital PCR, one of the new and alternative technologies for qPCR for the quantification of DNA templates is expected grow at a high rate. The massive portioning of the sample is the main aspect of this technology making it unique from other PCR technologies. Many emerging companies like RainDance Technologies, and major players like Bio-Rad and ThermoFisher are concentrating of this technology of PCR to gain better position in the market.
The major players operating in the PCR market include Abbott Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), Agilent Technologies (U.S.), BioMerieux SA (France), Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.K.), Qiagen N.V. (Netherlands), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Merck KGaA (Germany), Hoffman-La Roche (Switzerland), Takara Bio, Inc (Japan), and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc (U.S.).
Analytik Jena (Germany), Applied Biosystems (U.S.), Eppendorf AG (Germany), Agilent Technologies (U.S.), Auxilab S.L (Spain), Chai Biotechnology (U.S.), Biogenex (U.S.), DaAn gene (China), Seegene (South Korea), RainDance Technologies (U.S.), New England Biolabs Inc. (U.S.), Premier Biosoft (India), Diatherix (U.S.) and Bibby scientific limited (U.K.) are some of the emerging players in the PCR technologies market.