Automated Cell Culture Market

Automated cell culture mechanically performs the steps involved in growing and maintaining the cell culture system. Traditionally, cell culture has been a manual process that requires many hours of repetitive, painstaking work in order to maintain absolute sterility. The automation in the steps involved in cell culture has several advantages, such as reducing time and saving labor cost. Automation ensures consistency of the procedure and provides sterility that even the best technicians cannot attain. Automated cell culture systems are easy to operate and capable of handling large volumes of culture as scale-up is quicker with automated systems.

The growth of the global automated cell culture market is attributed to growing research & development (R&D) initiatives in the pharmaceutical industry, rise in adoption of liquid handling systems, and increasing prevalence of cancer and other infectious diseases. However, high maintenance cost, lack of awareness, and shortage of skilled professionals are restraining the growth of the market. The increasing focus on regenerative medicine is likely to create an opportunity for the growth of the global automated cell culture market.

Research & development aims to promote product innovation and differentiation. Increasing research & development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in order to cater to rising needs for treatments of various chronic diseases is driving the growth of the automated cell culture market. For instance, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), firms in the US conduct over half the world's R&D in pharmaceuticals, which is about USD 75 billion and holds the intellectual property rights on most new medicines. The overall economic impact of the biopharmaceutical industry in the US economy is substantial. The total economic impact includes USD 558 billion in revenue from biopharmaceutical businesses and USD 659 billion from suppliers and worker spending.

Additionally, in March 2017, the UK spent Eur 4.1 billion (equivalent to USD 4.5 billion) on R&D, looking for breakthroughs for conditions such as cancer, dementia, and rare genetic diseases. Furthermore, according to the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian government spent over USD 174.6 million in cancer research & development. The growing research and development in the field of healthcare is leading to the upward growth of the automated cell culture market. The automated cell culture market has witnessed a significant increase according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), as the research-based pharmaceutical industry spends over USD 149.8 billion on R&D per year and five of the 11 leading global R&D firms were pharmaceutical companies, in 2014. Rising investment and economies of scope generated by technological developments are expected to be the driving factors behind the biotech industry. Innovation is expected to be the critical driving factor for the automated cell culture market.

Regenerative medicine is a new field of medicine which promises to deliver therapies for replacing tissue/organ systems in the human body. Regenerative medicine utilizes cells, biomaterials, and molecules to fix structures in the body that are damaged due to injury or disease. The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is studying techniques for growing replacement tissues and organs for nearly 30 parts of the body, including skin, bladder, and liver. Cell therapies and regenerative medicine represents an enormous potential to improve the health-related quality of life of many patients with chronic diseases. The imminent and expanding need for novel therapies to solve debilitating health conditions is driving manufacturers to develop innovative cell culture systems.

The technological advancements in automated cell culture offer enhanced productivity and quality of cell lines. And these cell lines can be used for regeneration of tissues, studying the normal physiology and biochemistry of cells, the effects of drugs and toxic compounds on the cells. Moreover, increasing the participation of players in the field of regenerative medicine is driving the demand for automated cell culture systems. Hitachi, one of the key players operating in the automated cell culture market, announced the commercialization of the automated cell mass culture for the first time in Japan which is able to manufacture commercial induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) for regenerative medicine in, April 2017.

The rising need for novel therapies and development of robotic cell culture workstations and cell detection devices is, in turn, creating the opportunities for automated cell culture market.

Research laboratories and organizations need to make massive investments in order to maintain automated cell culture. Moreover, stringent manufacturing regulations for market approvals of the equipment by various governmental agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission, increase the costs of these systems. Furthermore, integration of information technology (IT) in instruments for laboratory automation requires high manufacturing expenses, leading to elevated prices of these equipment. The high initial and maintenance cost of automated cell culture are expected to hamper the growth of the global automated cell culture market as small-scale research laboratories and organizations find it unaffordable to procure such expensive equipment.

Moreover, the lack of awareness and shortage of skilled professionals are also factors expected to hinder the growth of the market during the assessment period.