CYTOMETRY/CELL ANALYSIS : Expanded applications drive flow cytometry's growth

A new market research report from BCC Research (Wellesley, MA) values the 2012 global market for flow cytometry products at $3.1 billion and predicts that it will reach nearly $5.7 billion by 2018, thanks to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3 percent from 2013 to 2018.

The report explains that increasing research and commercialization in various life science fields, such as proteomics, genomics, pharmacogenomics, and stem cell research, have led to increased demand for flow cytometry among other high-throughput technologies. And the development of cytometers with multiple lasers able to simultaneously detect up to 18 cell parameters has also boosted growth.

The expansion of flow cytometry applications from cellular analysis to molecular and genomic analysis has allowed flow cytometry technology to move beyond a basic research tool and emerge as a tool that plays an essential role in all phases of drug discovery. This includes testing new molecular entities (NMEs), identifying target molecules, lead characterization, biochemical screening, cell-based evaluation of hits, drug toxicity possibility, and drug efficacy. Additionally, flow cytometry is being used extensively in pharmacodynamic studies for some specific areas such as oncology and immunology.