3D Cell Culture Market, 2015 - 2025

The concept of growing tissues outside their natural system in an artificially created microenvironment is known as tissue culturing. It is a common tool for developing model systems that are useful for studying the basic human molecular and cell biology metabolisms. Cell culturing was first initiated in flat plastic or glass dishes as 2D cell culturing. Since then, all the tissue engineering, stem cell, molecular biology work is being carried out on the widely popular petri dishes. However, there are several limitations associated with 2D cell culture that hamper the morphology, growth rate, cell function, viability and the overall behaviour of the cell as compared to the natural environment. As a result, 2D cell culture is not efficient for studying complex molecular metabolisms.

To carry out studies in vitro, cells have to be supplemented with an environment that is a close replica of the natural environment. This can be accomplished by using 3D cell cultures which are physiologically more relevant as compared to the 2D cell cultures. Cells in a 3D culture form natural cell to cell interactions and synthesize extracellular material as they do in in vivo. These cells exert forces on each other, moving and migrating as they do in natural environment. In addition, the interactions between them include gap junctions that facilitate exchange of ions, electrical currents and small molecules enhancing the signalling and communication between them. Such a close representation of the natural system in vitro gives insights about the behaviour of the cell when stimulated with a potential drug or a chemical.

Presently, there are several scaffold-based and scaffold-free 3D systems in the market that are widely being used for the purpose of research in a variety of application areas. Although 2D cultures are still more prominent, the encouraging results of 3D cultures have motivated researchers across the world to gradually transition to 3D cultures systems.

SCOPE OF THE REPORT

The '3D Cell Culture Market, 2015-2025' report provides an extensive study on the marketed 3D cell culture systems and those under development. There are a number of 3D cell culture systems that are already commercially available. However, these systems are primarily being used in a variety of research applications; therapeutic applications are still being explored. In addition, there are several promising 3D culture systems which are currently being developed worldwide; the approach is likely to result in many commercial success stories in the foreseen future. The report covers various aspects, such as, key players in the industry, 3D culture products in various biomedical applications and upcoming opportunities for several stakeholders.

As pharmaceutical companies continue to expand their research programs in this area, one of the key objectives outlined for this report is to understand the current and future potential of the market. This is done by analysing current trends in the wider cell culture market and the specific parameters which are likely to influence evolution of 3D cultures during the same time period. In addition, we have provided our outlook on the sub-market evolution of 3D culture instruments, 3D culture related consumables, 3D culture services and other biomaterials. We have also reviewed, in detail, the likely contribution to be made by different applications areas such as cancer research, drug and toxicity screening, stem cell research and regenerative medicines. The report also provides a snapshot of the likely evolution of the market across key geographies (US, EU and Asia).

To address the uncertainties in the market, we have provided three market forecast scenarios for the time period 2015 - 2025. The conservative, base and optimistic scenarios represent three different tracks of industry evolution. Our opinions and insights, presented in this study, were influenced by the discussions that we conducted with experts in this area. All actual figures have been sourced and analysed from publicly available information and discussions with industry experts. The figures mentioned in this report are in USD, unless otherwise specified.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Most of the data presented in this report has been gathered via secondary and primary research. For all our projects, we conduct interviews with experts in the area (academia, industry, medical practice and other associations) to solicit their opinions on emerging trends in the market. This is primarily useful for us to draw out our own opinion on how the market will evolve across different regions and technology segments. Where possible, the available data has been checked for accuracy from multiple sources of information.

The secondary sources of information include

- Annual reports- Investor presentations- SEC filings- Industry databases- News releases from company websites- Government policy documents- Industry analysts' views

While the focus has been on forecasting the market over the coming ten years, the report also provides our independent view on various technological and non-commercial trends emerging in the industry. This opinion is solely based on our knowledge, research and understanding of the relevant market gathered from various secondary and primary sources of information.