Frost: Proteomic Revolution, Customized Drugs Market Drives U.S. Mass Spectrometer Demand

October 2, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS

According to Frost & Sullivan, these instruments now promise greater versatility and the progression from laboratories to clinical use has greatly expanded the number of users and scope of applications utilizing mass spectrometry.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan of the U.S. life science mass spectrometry markets found that revenues in this industry totaled $695.7M in 2005, with estimates to reach $1.39B in 2012.

Further aiding the uptake of mass spectrometers will be a mounting focus on screening patients through the identification of biomarkers, as well as a move toward developing more effective drugs based on structural properties of targets.

In line with these trends, analysts said the U.S market will likely continue seeing strong growth over the next seven years.

"Mass spectrometry is a versatile research tool, enabling scientists to identify both the causes of diseases and to develop customized treatments against them," said Frost & Sullivan research analyst Shankar Sellappan.

"The search for biomarkers, as well as the construction of detailed structural models of drugs, proteins and other biomolecules will transform the traditional process of disease screening, diagnosis and prognosis and will make available treatments that have been manipulated to increase efficacy."

For example, many cancers are not caused by the lack of a protein but by a mutation that alters its structure, thereby altering the function of the protein. Analysts said information on how the protein is mutated - or the development of treatments that restore its function - based on structural analyses using mass spectrometry can significantly minimize the effects of this abnormal protein.

However, instrument quality and reliability continue to be a major problem facing users of mass spectrometers. Analysts said although users are likely to heavily utilize and rely upon these systems to provide data due to their high costs and ability to handle high volumes of sample, mass spectrometers have yet to show they can withstand heavy pressure, and they have an approximate down time of 15%.

As a result, end-users have grown increasingly frustrated with this "accepted" fact and are demanding more of their research dollars.

"The high cost of maintenance, in terms of both dollars as well as time, is a critical market restraint that threatens to curtail investments in these highly technical instruments," said Sellappan. "With tightening funding levels, competition for research funding has increased and down time of laboratory instruments clearly affects project planning, progress, morale, as well as the type of experiments pursued."

In addressing such concerns, analysts said mass spectrometer manufacturers will need to leverage their pricing powers to provide incentives for mandatory feedback on these instruments. Another option worth considering is conducting practical workshops for new mass spectrometers prior to their release for sale.

In this approach, a broad range of end-users - from those employed in relatively low-skilled, high-throughput environments to highly trained researchers - could test these instruments in real-world applications without the help of company representatives. This would allow for the identification and refinement of problems - commonly unnoticed by those employed by the manufacturing company - prior to the release of the product onto the market.

Source: Frost & Sullivan.