Cell Analysis Global Market is estimated to be worth $33.5 billion by 2027

Cell analysis encompasses a wide range of activities that help in understanding and predicting the dynamics that influence cell function, proliferation, growth and death. This is enabled through analysis of cell signaling mechanisms, elucidation of molecular function, study of cell behavior, and correlating to multiple events with cell morphology, changes in biochemical constituents and cell health. Cell analysis is gaining importance in various fields of applications such as drug discovery, diagnosis of infectious disease, cancer research, and diagnosis of genetic diseases. Live-cell imaging, single-cell analysis, and high content screening (HCS) are some of the few technological processes gaining more focus in recent times. Single-cell analysis is a rapidly evolving field where individual cells are analyzed for assessment of changing cell behavior and function over time during its natural states or when perturbed by external factors, it is gaining prominence in the cell analysis market because of its extensive application in different research areas.

According to IQ4I analysis, the cell analysis global market is expected to grow at mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 to reach $33,542.0 million by 2027. The rising incidence of infectious and non-infectious diseases and demand for early detection, diagnosis & treatment, increasing government and private funding, increasing advancements in cell imaging technologies to reduce the cost & time during the drug discovery process, growing focusing on personalized medicine, the introduction of advanced technologies in single-cell analysis and emerging Asia-Pacific market is driving the cell analysis market growth. However, stringent government regulations, lack of skilled personnel to use advanced cell analysis Instruments, and the high cost of some of the instruments are expected to hamper the market growth.

The cell analysis market is mainly segmented by techniques, products, applications, end-users and geography. Among the techniques, PCR accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to increased demand for molecular (PCR) based tests for disease detection especially in infectious disease, early disease screening and prenatal testing. Microfluidics and Microarrays is the fastest-growing segment at a high single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the increasing application of microfluidic technologies in single-cell isolation & analysis and development of droplet or nanowell microfluidics platforms for single-cell omics analysis.

The cell analysis product market is segmented into consumables, instruments and software & services. Among these products, the Consumables segment is holding the largest share in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to increasing utilization of reagents and assay kits in diagnosis and research, For instance, Recent COVID -19 pandemic situation increased utilization of PCR consumables in case of diagnosis and Flow cytometry, sequencing, ELISPOT, Mass cytometry and others consumables in case of research.

The cell analysis global market based on application is categorized into processes, technical field, disease, or therapeutic area. Among the process of application, cellular process application accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027. Single-cell analysis market is the fastest-growing segment at a high single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to rising application of cell analysis in many therapeutic areas such as cancer, immunology, neurobiology and cardiology, development of innovative technologies for single-cell omics analysis and emerging approach of combining technologies to address the unmet need of existing technologies. Based on the field of application, the diagnostics sub-segment held the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to increased incidence of cancer, increased interest in early screening & prenatal screening of genetic diseases, decreasing test cost and the outbreak of various infectious diseases in recent years, and advancements in analytical tools. The stem cell analysis sub-segment is the fastest-growing segment at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027, due to increased acceptance of stem cell research and an increase in organ transplantations. Among the different applications based on the therapeutic area, Infectious diseases accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a low single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the increasing incidence of infectious diseases have boosted the application of cell analytical tools in diagnosis as well as research. For instance, Cytometric techniques are greatly employed immunophenotyping of T- cell to study the immune response in COVID -19 patient samples. Cancer research is the fastest-growing segment at mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to the increasing utilization of cell analytical technologies in cancer studies mainly to study cellular heterogeneity.

The end-users of the Cell analysis market are segmented into Hospital & Diagnostic Laboratories, Academic and research institutes, Pharma & Biotech, Contract Research Organization (CRO's), Cell Banks and Others. Among the end-users, Hospital & Diagnostic Laboratories segment accounted for the largest revenue in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 attributed to the increasing adoption of early cancer screening tests, the outbreak of infectious diseases and reduced testing cost. The Contract Research Organization (CRO's) is the fastest-growing segment at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to increased outsourcing of drug discovery process which utilizes the cell analytical technologies in various stages of drug discovery & development such as target identification, target validation, hit optimization, toxicity and efficacy testing, etc. and the launch of new cell analysis services.

The cell analysis global market based on geography is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Rest of the world (RoW). Among various geographies, the North American region dominated the cell analysis global market with the largest share in 2020 and is expected to grow at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027. This is due to the increasing R&D expenditure, increasing funding for cell-based research, increasing application cell analysis in drug discovery & development, increasing demand for personalized medicine and early disease detection, diagnosis and treatment, increasing focus in developing single-cell analysis technologies for application in disease research, diagnostics and therapeutics.

The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing region at a mid-single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 due to increasing scope for research activities in academic & research institutes, increasing outsourcing, increased incidence of chronic diseases (cancer) and infectious disease, increasing awareness about early screening (cancer) and prenatal test and their adoption in clinical care, increasing government and private investment for - cell-based research and also for the development & expansion of single-cell analysis technologies and increasing number start-up companies engaged in the development innovative solutions. However, lack of technical expertise, high cost of instruments, lack of skilled labors, and large scale clinical data challenges are some of the restraints for the cell analysis market in the region.

Technological advancements are expanding the cell analysis market, particularly in single-cell analysis to enhance their application. Some of the major advancements in this field include CRISPER Live Cell Imaging, Raman Live Cell Imaging, Deep Learning and AI in Microscopy and development of Multi-Omics technologies, Droplet-Based Microfluidics Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, Intelligent image-activated cell sorting or AI-driven cell isolation technology, Advanced spatial technologies, Digital Microfluidic Isolation of Single Cells for -Omics (DISCO) technologies in single-cell analysis. Recent advancements in microfluidic technologies have opened new avenues for single-cell genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, with a particular emphasis on quantification and multiplicity that can perform measurements on many single-cells. Droplet-based and nanowell based microfluidic technology platforms have given significant output in - single-cell isolation and - single-cell omics analysis. For instance, 10X Genomics developed chromium system for single-cell gene expression sequencing, single-cell CNV and single-cell ATAC and 1CellBio developed in-Drop system has enabled high-throughput single-cell analysis (>10,000 cells) with intensive user support. The advancements in single-cell isolation and barcoding technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to profile DNA, mRNA, and proteins at the same time (single-cell multi-omics). Various single-cell genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics methods were developed separately in recent decades, now the focus has been towards the development of multi-omics methods. For instance, in October 2020, Mission Bio, Inc. launched the complete Tapestri Single-cell Multi-omics Solution (instrument, single-cell multi-omics reagent kits, TotalSeq-D antibody content from BioLegend, and visualization software); the complete package provides layered insight into multiple analytes across all blood cancers, reducing drug development time and cost by at least half. Mission Bio’s new solution can uniquely detect DNA and protein simultaneously from the same cell.

Along with these advancements in cell analysis, the trend is moving towards the merging of or combing various cell analysis technologies or integration of various technologies such as AI, which will have greater efficiency than the original and fills the gap between the technologies. For instance, Raman Confocal microscopy was developed by combining confocal microscopy with conventional Raman spectroscopy to achieve high-resolution label-free live cell imaging using the fingerprint peaks of biomolecules of interest such as DNA and protein. Companies are also showing interest in these perspectives and developing novel technologies. ThinkCyte, Inc has developed "ghost cytometry" for high-throughput and high-content single-cell sorting by combing microfluidics, imaging and machine learning and in July 2020, the company collaborated with Hitachi, Ltd. focused on developing artificial intelligence (AI)-driven single-cell analysis and sorting system by combining their technology with Hitachi's large-scale instrument manufacturing capabilities, to enable high-speed, label-free cell isolation with high accuracy, which has been difficult to achieve with existing cell sorting techniques.

Despite rapid advancements in single-cell isolation and analysis technologies, there is a gap between in single-cell omics analysis and in-situ analysis because current cell analysis technologies are unable to correlate the single-cell genomes, transcriptomes, or proteomes with the phenotypes of adherent cells in situ (e.g., size, shape, intracellular marker expression, and distance to neighboring cells). Thus, the focus is slowly shifting towards the single-cell spatial analysis, where each cell is analyzed with itsnatural context. Companies have realized the demand for these types of technologies, resulting in the development of innovative platforms to address the unmet needs, which will drive the demand for this market in the future. For instance, in December 2020, Nanostring revealed their new approach of development of a spatial molecular imaging platform, a next-generation solution for multiplexed analysis of RNA and protein expression for individual cells within a tissue sample. The spatial molecular imager combines the power of high-plex profiling with high-resolution imaging to enable the analysis of hundreds to thousands of RNAs or proteins directly from single cells within morphologically intact tissue samples.

Due to the extensive advantages of cell analysis technologies in therapeutic discovery and development, Pharma & biotech companies, academic and research institutions and CRO are collaborating to utilize these technologies. For instance, in July 2019, Celsius Therapeutics collaborated with Janssen Biotech, Inc. to apply its proprietary single-cell genomics and machine learning platform to identify predictive biomarkers of response from Janssen’s VEGA study, a Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of combination therapy with guselkumab and golimumab in patients with ulcerative colitis. Similarly, in September 2020, IsoPlexis entered into a partnership with Yale University to use IsoPlexis' single-cell functional proteomics solutions to identify various predictive markers of the immune response to COVID-19.

The widespread application of cell analysis, attracts the government or private ventures to invest huge sums in this area to modernize the research and development. According to IQ4I research, during the period 2019-20, approximately $410.8 million was invested by various venture and government agencies in cell analysis. In that, around $xx million funding is mainly focused on single-cell analysis. The companies are received funding mainly for the development of innovative technologies and also to advance or accelerate the development of their platform in various applications such as disease research, diagnosis and therapeutics in order to expand their business in these applications. Along with this, they also received funding for geographical and commercial expansion for their innovative product. For instance, in December 2020, Deepcell developed a platform by combing machine learning, microfluidics, imaging, and genomics to power phenotype activated cell analysis and sorting in single-cell analysis. The company received $20 million series A funding to continue the development of its microfluidics-based cell sorting and analysis technology and to build a cell morphology atlas of more than 400 million cells, which ultimately helps in translational research as well as in diagnostics and therapeutic development.

The Cell analysis market is consolidated with the 6 top players occupying xx% of the market share and the remaining xx% of the market is occupied by other players. Companies are adopting various organic and inorganic strategies for market expansion. To gain market share, companies are constantly focusing on developing innovative technologies and differentiated products. For instance, in December 2020, Qiagen N.V. launched  QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 RUO solution that can detect T-cell responses of the human immune system to the pathogen that causes COVID-19, help researchers find out more about immunity levels and disease progression. Similarly, in October 2019, BD launched the Rhapsody WTA Amplification kit for single-cell analysis on the BD Rhapsody system. The BD Rhapsody WTA Amplification kit can be used in combination with BD AbSeq reagents to simultaneously study the entire transcriptome and protein markers. Some of the players to maintain their market position in cell analysis are following inorganic strategies by acquiring small-scale or specialized companies to access specific technology or products and that may reduce the competitive intensity in the market to some extent. For instance, in April 2020, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. acquired Celsee, Inc., which offers instruments and consumables for the isolation, detection, and analysis of single cells. The acquisition will extend the company’s reach into the rapidly growing world of precision medicine and single-cell analysis. Similarly, Agilent Technologies has acquired BioTek Instruments in August 2019, for bolstering its portfolio further with cell imaging systems, microplate readers, washers, dispensers, automated incubators and stackers. The combined portfolio will allow Agilent to deliver a range of unique cell analysis workflows to provide customers the ability to obtain deeper, more reliable insights across a variety of cell analysis applications and expand the company’s capabilities in the cell analysis market.

Major players in the cell analysis market include Agilent Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Becton Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Illumina Inc. (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), Merck KGaA (Germany), Olympus Corporation (Japan), PerkinElmer, Inc. (U.S.), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Qiagen N.V. (Netherlands), and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.).