Life Science Research Tools Market Size, Growth and Trends 2006-2016

This report provides an overview of the life sciences research tools market from 2006 to 2016. Life sciences research tools companies offer instruments, reagents and services to scientists in academic, BioPharma and applied market laboratories. Top vendors include Agilent, Bio-Rad, EMD Millipore, Life Technologies (Invitrogen / Applied Biosystems), Roche, Sigma-Aldrich and Thermo Fisher; smaller emerging players are highlighted as well (e.g., genomics players [Fluidigm, Raindance, Oxford Nanopore, NABSys, GnuBio]). Segmenting the market by technology, we estimate that the life science research tools market reached $37.4B in 2011, and is expected to grow -4% p.a. in the next 5 years.

Many reports on individual technologies report bullish growth rates of 5%-20% for Academic, BioPharma and Applied market customers (and excluding in vitro diagnostics). While our analysis confirms that applied market might experience double digit growth for many technologies, current market size estimates for these customers do not support an overall market growth of 10% for the overall life science research tools sector. This is especially true in light of the current global economic slowdown (including in India and China) and continued sovereign-debt crisis in Europe. A review of public fillings and guidance from the top players in this space -as well as an analysis of the funding reality in Academia and BioPharma- confirms this outlook.

This report evaluates which technologies are expected to capture and loose market share in this mid-single digit growth rate market. In this second edition, we updated our analysis to reflect the most current market sales and trends in 5 broad segments:

1) Pure genomics technologies: qPCR, next generation sequencing (NGS) / third generation sequencing (3GS), microarrays, PCR, CE sequencing, molecular biology tools, digital PCR;

2) Pure proteomics technologies: protein isolation and analysis, ELISA, protein production, western blots and protein microarrays;

3) Cell biology technologies: discovery services, basic cell biology reagents, flow cytometry, transfection and electroporation, media and sera, microscopy, cell culture equipment, whole cell analysis, cells and tissues, high content imaging;

4) Other analytical technologies: liquid chromatography, mass spectroscopy, structural analysis methods, in vivo study, spectroscopy, multiplex technologies, label free technologies;

5) Other supplies and technologies: lab supplies and disposables, glassware, automation, sample preparation, LIMS, magnetic beads. For each of these 35 subsegments, we present an analysis detailing sales of instruments and reagents for 2006, 2011 and 2016.

In addition, we detail market drivers and moderators, market trends, a high level end-customer breakdown (Academic, BioPharma and Applied markets customers) and key competitors. Many of these technologies are increasingly used for clinical diagnostics purposes. Therefore, we briefly cover the size, growth and trends of the in vitro diagnostics and molecular diagnostics markets. All data are based on manufacturer sales as publically reported and interviews with life sciences experts in academic, BioPharma and applied market laboratories.