2008/2009 Protein Expression & Purification Systems Report

380 pages, 250 graphs and tables

Published: February 29, 2008

Price: $4795

Just Published: New Comprehensive Analysis of the N. American Protein Expression & Purification Market

San Carlos, March 14, 2008: A thorough investigation into this exciting growth business, this new market research report places the current North American protein expression kit market at over $200 million, doubling since our last report was published in 2003. Of the 135,000 life science researchers working in North America, 49,890 are currently using protein expression and associated purification techniques. The new 380 page MSPPSA Report is based upon more than 400 end-user interviews conducted during December 2007. The extensive database itemizes approximately $14 million spent by respondents themselves on these products. This rich dataset enables a detailed examination of this market and its important segments.

The report contains individual sections for the five most common cell systems - mammalian, insect, yeast, prokaryotic, and cell-free or in-vitro expression systems. As the following graph shows, usage is spread over five different expression systems, with prokaryotic still the most widespread although mammalian now accounts for the largest dollar share of the market.

We are also seeing growing interest in cell-free expression systems, amongst both end-users and our clients and we have added many more questions and technical detail to this burgeoning area.

We have also expanded coverage in this report to include the associated area of purification of expressed proteins. Researchers' purification budgets in this market sector are even larger than those for protein expression. The following graph shows the distribution of annual purification budgets by type of organization.

Respondents could provide data for their individual usage, or for the usage of their entire laboratory. In the following table, you can see the summary of the annual dollar spend by the 406 respondents completing this portion of the survey, providing budgets for a total of 1,337 researchers and normalized to a 'per researcher' basis.

The budget information provided by respondents includes all major suppliers they use, enabling us to calculate shares of mentions as well as dollar market shares for each segment of the protein expression as well as the associated protein purification market. In the graph below, we see the current dollar market share for the most widely used system, prokaryotic protein expression:

Speaking of competition, we asked respondents to rank the importance of ten factors in selecting a supplier for protein expression and purification products. We then asked respondents to identify the supplier they were familiar with and then to select the supplier they felt ranked best for the five factors most important to them as individuals. We gathered reams of data concerning all leading suppliers, ranked by respondents in areas of particular importance to them. This approach yields far more meaningful data than a shotgun approach asking respondents to rank numerous suppliers and areas, many of which they are unfamiliar with, or feel are unimportant.

In the following graph, we see how suppliers are ranked for one of these ten factors, the number of literature references. Once again, we see that Invitrogen dominates this ranking - but how important are literature references to bioresearchers. This is not one of the top three factors, as shown in the prior table. Do you know how important this factor is to customers?

The report includes sections covering extensive technical aspects of protein expression. For example, in the following table, we see the yield typically obtained with various cell systems used in protein expression. One reason for the continued wide usage of prokaryotic cell systems is clear - its relatively high yield.

An additional section is devoted to studying the technical applications for these expression products. Topics covered include the types of protein expressed, the purification methods utilized and purification yield obtained, the number of constructs expressed monthly, and the use of automated purification systems. Also investigated were the requirements for type of activity and post-translational modifications, finishing with an open-ended probe regarding downstream applications. The broad cross-section of researchers yields hundreds of particularly valuable, detailed, and specific comments.

As useful as closed-ended questions are, we prefer using open-ended questions to probe for additional information. The open-ended probe shown at the bottom of the screen shot below is one such example. From this, we collected over 440 comments from respondents filled with valuable reasons for selecting the cell systems used for expression.

Reading these comments is equivalent to spending weeks of time in the field with end-users and provides essential insight for suppliers. Additional open-ended questions in the survey probed reasons for respondents' technical choices in designing their expression experiments as well as probes of desired improvements in both expression systems and purification of expressed proteins.

An entire section of the report is dedicated to future purchase plans and we use this data to project future growth rates and lines of products forecast to grow least and most rapidly. Over-confident suppliers will ignore these statistics at their own peril, while market-savvy suppliers will use this data to increase their market share and avoid market dead zones.

These are a few of the conclusions of a new 380-page study, part of PhorTech's MSPPSA series. This series has been developed over the past 14 years to systematically measure market size, market share, growth rates, and supplier performance in key areas of bioresearch. This new report continues the analysis of protein expression markets with detailed investigations into expression systems, purification processes, and automated purification systems.

It has already been purchased by astute competitors determined to strengthen their position in this lucrative market. Enhanced by 250 color graphs and tables, this study provides a penetrating analysis and should be considered essential reading for anyone seriously intending to succeed in this competitive area. The 83 companies mentioned in the report are listed in the following table.

To obtain more information, contact Michael Eby at PhorTech International, +1 (650) 594-0785, or point your Web browser to www.phortech.com. A detailed summary of the report including table of contents and list of tables and graphs, as well as the methodology and project objectives, the survey demographics, and a copy of the survey questionnaire can be downloaded from the site at no charge.

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