Glutathione Resin Market

Market Overview

The global glutathione resin market size was valued at USD 477.18 million in 2022. It is estimated to reach USD 969.53 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period (2023–2031).

Glutathione is essential in bolstering the immune system and aiding in the fight against various environmental pollutants. Glutathione resin is an affinity chromatography medium designed for straightforward, one-step purification of recombinant glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion proteins and other glutathione-binding proteins expressed in insect cells, E. coli, and mammalian cells. Moreover, using a ten-carbon spacer arm, reduced glutathione is joined to 4% cross-connected agarose in the resin. Hence, this procedure can be easily modified to purify glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins weighing 100 g to 400 g.

The primary raw ingredients utilized to create and manufacture glutathione resin are reduced glutathione and oxidized glutathione. Several skincare treatments, including lotions, anti-aging lotions, and moisturizers, rely heavily on oxidized glutathione. These products improve skin smoothness, increase stratum corneum moisture content, and inhibit the development of wrinkles. As affinity chromatography offers great capacity, selectivity, and resolution for target proteins, it is a crucial and significant technique. Glutathione also provides defense against the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation for cancer and medication for weak immune systems or infertility.

Highlights

• Protein purification dominates the application segment
• Asia-Pacific is the highest shareholder in the global market

Market Dynamics

Global Glutathione Resin Market Drivers

High Demand in Drug Development

The need for drug development activities is constantly increasing. There is a rise in R&D activities in biopharmaceuticals and drug discovery to fulfill the need for new and improved drugs. Experienced big and established pharma and biopharma companies now do most biopharmaceutical drug discovery and development. Companies can also create and manufacture biological pharmaceutical tools with the chromatography technique, ensuring the quality and safety of the active ingredients.

Additionally, the application of chromatography in drug discovery has substantial advantages. For instance, since the fatal Ebola virus outbreak in 2015, which took away over 10,000 lives in West Africa, chromatographic technology has saved millions of lives worldwide. Chromatography was very helpful in finding more potent antibodies to combat the Ebola virus. In addition, chromatography is increasingly used to separate complex mixtures in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Moreover, the increasing number of Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs) and Contract Research Organizations (CROs) worldwide, which are the major consumers of chromatography resin, is expected to propel the market.

Developing Pharmaceutical Industry

The market is expanding due to the pharmaceutical industry's rapid growth. As per the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, 59 new drugs were introduced in 2018, and more than 8,000 compounds are currently being developed globally. In 2020, 1,213 pharmaceuticals will be developed for infectious diseases, 1,535 for immunology, 1,740 for cancer, and 1,535 for neurology.

A tripeptide, glutathione is also a component of many medicinal products. It performs the role of an antioxidant by defending cells against the harm caused by free radicals, detoxifying toxins such as pesticides and heavy metals, chemicals, and other impurities, and removing poisons generated during respiration. In contrast, glutathione reduces the toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs while providing radiation protection. In addition, the population is expanding quickly, health and safety awareness is increasing, and tailored affinity bioprocess resin is still being developed. All of these factors support market expansion.

Global Glutathione Resin Market Restraints

High Cost Compared to Other Separation Techniques

The cost of affinity chromatography is higher than the other traditional chromatography techniques and is considered the most expensive. Since a highly purified protein has to be manufactured before the separation of targeted protein using a resin such as glutathione resins. These affinity resins are expensive compared to simple ligand media such as nickel. Moreover, the limited availability of highly skilled professionals to handle the chromatography process will likely restrain the growth of the chromatography resin market, especially in developing and underdeveloped economies.

Global Glutathione Resin Market Opportunities

Increasing Use of Immunoprecipitation (IP) as a Separation Technique

Immunoprecipitation (IP) is witnessing growth majorly due to the advantages offered by it, the most significant advantage being the highest purity and high yields extracted from a complex mixture, which is a key factor driving the demand for glutathione resin in the market. The use of immunoprecipitation for purification and antigen detection in North America and Europe has become common.

Additionally, most pharmaceutical companies are increasingly seeking immunoprecipitation from conventional purification techniques. Increased demand is projected to help manufacturers increase their market share and push them to innovate new, improved, and affordable products. This positive trend is further anticipated to drive the market growth. Also, the immunoprecipitation market was valued at USD 605.20 million in 2018 and is predicted to exhibit a CAGR of 5.31% from 2019 to 2026. A surging number of research activities in the life science sector is driving the market. Technological advancements in immunoprecipitation techniques create market growth opportunities.

Regional Analysis

Asia-Pacific Dominates the Global Market

Based on region, the global glutathione resin market is bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Central and South America, and the Middle East and Africa. 

Asia-Pacific is the highest global glutathione resin market shareholder and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 9.1% during the forecast period. High economic growth is predicted for most Asia-Pacific countries over the forecast period, in contrast to the slow growth in other developed regions like the United States and Europe. Increased government investment in domestic manufacturing is expected to increase regional production and decrease reliance on imports, opening up lucrative opportunities for manufacturers worldwide. Low prices and easy access to land and skilled labor characterize the Asia-Pacific market. In addition, the market is expected to expand thanks to the positive impact of emerging economies like China and India, which have benefited from the shift in the global production landscape over the past few years. The glutathione resin market is expected to be driven by the expansion of the pharmaceutical R&D industry.

North America is predicted to exhibit a CAGR of 7.6% over the forecast period. The growing need for biochemical research applications and vaccine development to combat diseases like the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic is the main factor driving the glutathione resin market in North America. The glutathione resin market in North America is anticipated to be driven by the growing interest in using purified proteins and antibodies in therapeutic areas. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology market for glutathione resin is the largest in this region due to the substantial demand from the research sector of the same industry.

The United States consumes the most chromatography resin in North America and holds the largest market share. Due to its highly developed pharmaceutical industry, expanding use in direct applications, and R&D initiatives to support the development of novel products, the U.S. has established itself as a leading market for glutathione resin. Over the past few decades, government initiatives like funding to increase the productivity of affinity chromatography beads like magnetic and agarose beads have benefited, improving technological capability and economic competitiveness.

Europe is home to major global chromatography resin manufacturers such as Merck KGaA. The European Union's initiatives, such as the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), aiming to speed up the development of better and safe medicines, have greatly boosted the affinity chromatography market in this region. The rising use of monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic purposes is also expected to further propel the European market. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) regulations encourage producers to thoroughly check the food for quality and safety, driving demand for chromatography resins. In addition, Germany is the largest revenue contributor in this region.

Germany is one of the prominent consumers of glutathione resin, owing to the significant presence of research and development facilities of global pharmaceutical and biochemical companies. The region increasingly exports medicines and products to neighboring countries and other economies worldwide. The availability of the large pharmaceutical industry is one of the factors responsible for the growing demand for glutathione resin in the region.

Although Central and South America only make up a small portion of the global glutathione resin market, they are a crucial regional market for businesses looking to expand internationally. Central and South America is one of the most badly hit regions in the world by the Zika epidemic. The government in the region has invested in research and development for the cure and develop vaccines using the latest technologies, which will surge the demand for glutathione resin in pharmaceutical research applications.

In the Middle East and Africa, the glutathione resin market is expected to grow fastest in the region, followed by the affinity chromatography market. Increasing demand for chromatography techniques in countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa is the major factor responsible for the rising resin consumption. Regulatory authorities such as the West Africa Drug Regulatory Authority Network (WADRAN) are expected to introduce strict quality guidelines for food testing, boosting the chromatography resin market in the region.

Segmental Analysis

The global glutathione resin market is segmented by application.

Based on application, the global glutathione resin market is bifurcated into protein purification, immunoprecipitation (IP), research, and others. 

The protein purification segment dominates the global market and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 9.1% over the forecast period. Generally, protein purification entails five essential steps, i.e., extraction from biological matter, separation from lipids and nucleic acids (non-protein components), precipitation step, recovery of bulk protein from raw extract, utilization of hydrophobic or ion-exchange chromatography column for the separation of target protein from bulk protein, and more refined steps including affinity matrix to obtain highly refined target protein with high yields. Various agarose-based matrices, covalently bound nucleotides, numerous ligands, and metals are commercially supplied by Amicon, Sigma Aldrich, and others. Separation of binding proteins utilizing affinity chromatography involves sepharose or agarose-bound reactive dyes. Ideally, no more than 5 to 6 steps in this process require protein purification.

Additionally, the demand for protein purification is estimated to rise due to the need for protein extraction from complex mixtures and rising research in biotechnological and pharmaceutical fields. Purified proteins are successfully used in vaccine production, immunological studies, protein-DNA, and protein-protein interaction.

Immunoprecipitation (IP) is a method used to isolate antigens from a mixture with the help of antigen-antibody interaction. This method enriches or isolates protein from the biological samples for studying its expression, structure, identity, and post-translational modifications. Immunoprecipitation is highly used to alter column affinity chromatography to prepare protein samples. This relatively easy and fast technique for detecting protein-protein interactions is compatible with numerous downstream analysis methods such as mass spectrometry, western blot, etc. Immunoprecipitation is one of the most widely used methods for isolating biomolecules and proteins from tissue lysates or cells for subsequent detection by assay techniques and western blotting. This technique is considered one of the useful tools for characterizing proteins and protein–protein interactions. Immunoprecipitation is ideal for analyzing separated protein fractions using other biochemical techniques such as density gradients, sedimentation, or gel filtration. Applications such as studying protein complexes and protein-protein interaction and identifying unknown proteins in a protein complex highly utilize immunoprecipitation techniques.

In research applications for protein extractions, glutathione resin is frequently used. Recombinant proteins are used in various biomedical, pharmaceutical, laboratory, academic, and industry R&D fields for indirect and direct application research. Protein technologies and recombinant proteins have become increasingly important in various research fields. Scientists have created high-quality, highly purified proteins for numerous pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

Glutathione resin is an affinity chromatography medium used in various applications at industrial and laboratory scales. It is used to purify recombinant derivatives of GST. The applications of glutathione resin are projected to boom, with more market players entering the market to fulfill the demand and supply gaps due to cutbacks in major producing countries like China, India, and others. The development of DNA vaccines, which call for purified proteins for COVID-19 and other similar pharmaceutical applications, is expected to continue increasing. This is leading to a global glutathione production boom during the forecast period.

Recent Developments

• April 2022- Cymbiotika, a renowned manufacturer of clinically proven, clinically pure nutritional supplements, launched its reformulated Glutathione. The new, innovative formula includes Some essential nutrients required for nearly every biological process in the human body.
• May 2023- The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) approved Kyowa Hakko's Setria ingredient, making it the country's first glutathione permitted for dietary supplements and functional foods.