Bioanalytical testing determines the quantitative properties of drugs and their metabolites in body matrices like blood, plasma, urine, tissues, etc. It is the key to establishing drug safety and efficacy, providing an in-depth evaluation of effects, downsides, treatment suitability, and circumstances in which the drug can be used.
The industry has experienced exponential growth in the last few years, and also fought some of its greatest challenges owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article will go over some key trends for bioanalytical service companies in 2022.
Increased Lab Outsourcing Service
Big pharmaceutical companies have in-house bioanalytical labs with advanced facilities but cannot always handle complex analytical testing. Running in-house laboratories is also a costly endeavor. As a result, outsourcing bioanalytical services is increasing day by day. Outsourcing decreases the overhead expenditure of the companies and allows access to better technology and expertise of world-class analytics on short notice. Outsourcing helps companies make a better profit as it allows the companies to trade higher fixed rates for lower variable rates.
The Rise in Research and Development Expenditure of Pharmaceutical Companies
In 2012, the total research expenditure of the pharmaceutical industry was 136 billion dollars. The amount increased to 186 billion dollars in 2019, making the pharmaceutical industry the most research and development-intensive industry in the US economy. The pharmaceutical industry spends 6 times as much on research as all other manufacturing sectors combined. Over the past few decades, 1 trillion has been invested in researching newer and better drugs. The trend of research expenditure is projected to increase even more in the near future. Many companies have started outsourcing research to clinical research organizations to cope with the costs.
Impact of COVID 19
Business operations were severely affected by the pandemic as well as the economy as a whole. The nationwide lockdowns seriously impacted the industrial supply chain and trade, and the bioanalytical services industry certainly didn’t escape this hellfire.
The preventive measures against coronavirus decreased patient flow, which severely impacted the bioanalytical market. In addition, cancer screenings decreased acutely. For example, in the first 15 weeks of 2020, cervical cancer screenings decreased by 68 percent, and breast cancer screenings decreased by 17 percent. Though these are positive signs in the grand scheme of things, they caused a significant hiatus in the economy of the bioanalytical industry.
Covid also prompted the bioanalytical companies to focus on faster and better technologies to help produce vaccines quicker.
Lucrative Growth in Large Molecule Subsegment
Bioanalytical testing of large molecules is one of the most challenging tasks in the field. Several elaborate techniques are used to fulfill this task, including ligand binding assays, size exclusion affinity chromatography, etc. However, due to the complexity of the process and the involvement of R&D resources, large molecule testing is mostly outsourced.
Competitive Landscape
The high growth potential of the bioanalytical services market is attracting new entrants. New additions in the market increase the healthy competition among established service providers in the market. Recently many Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) are offering analytical services as well.
