Expanding Customer Base Promises Double-Digit Growth for the US Next-Generation Sequencing Market

Given the surplus of new instruments hitting the market with improved data output and decreased cost per run, prospects for the next-generation sequencing market remain buoyant.

By delivering systems with different throughput options and price points, vendors are widening their potential end-user base. As sequencing becomes even more cost-effective, the technology will become accessible to smaller laboratories, while larger organizations may increase infrastructure more readily. The market will remain in a strong adoption period with double-digit growth over the next three years as the technology permeates to new customers and research fields.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (Mountain View, USA), an international growth consultancy company, reported that sequencing developers have started to provide low-to-mid throughput “personal” sequencing instruments at lower price points for smaller laboratories in attempts to secure a wider customer base. These instruments have lower outputs, often half the gigabases of data per run of their more expensive counterparts. With these more affordable benchtop sequencers, instrument providers hope to entice those researchers currently using their core facilities or services providers for sequencing needs.

“In the near term, getting sequencers into smaller labs remains a major initiative for sequencing providers as they continue to introduce affordable benchtop systems,” said Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Christianne Bird. “In the long term, sequencing vendors are eyeing personalized medicine and clinical sequencing to open new end-user markets and drive major growth.”

Combined with a growing marketplace of sequencing instrumentation providers, the number of service providers and core facilities offering sequencing services is growing steadily. These providers remain a strong customer base for instrument suppliers. In contrast, the use of sequencing core facilities and services providers provides an alternative to buying a sequencer and conducting work in-house, thereby limiting the adoption of sequencing instrumentation. For researchers with limited capital equipment budgets, bioinformatics infrastructure, or throughput requirements, services remain an attractive alternative. Moreover, for small one-time sequencing projects, using a service provider will always be more cost effective. Therefore, the ability to access sequencing technology through service providers remains a constant restraint to the potential customer base.

Nonetheless, next-generation sequencing remains a major growth area for life science tool vendors, including those providing sequencers, ancillary instrumentation, reagents, and software. In order to succeed, platform providers must continue to improve their instruments and provide upgrades on a yearly basis in the short term, and establish innovative R&D efforts to develop third-generation platforms for the long term, according to Frost & Sullivan. Several providers are looking for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and partnerships to secure their future success in the sequencing market.

“In this fast-paced and rapidly growing market, mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships continue to shake up competitive dynamics,” said Ms. Bird. “With the threat of a new technology making older systems obsolete, current suppliers are stepping up efforts to secure their future competitiveness through M&A and strategic partnerships while also pursuing aggressive R&D strategies.”

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