Protein Expression Market

Market Overview

The global protein expression market size was valued at USD 1,208.60 million in 2022. It is estimated to reach USD 2,873.21 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 10.10% during the forecast period (2023–2031).

Protein expression is referred to as a biotechnological procedure that generates specific proteins. These proteins are formed by manipulating gene expression in organisms of interest. The procedure leads to the expression of large amounts of recombinant genes in organisms. The development of genetic engineering and recombinant technologies has opened many possibilities for the expression and isolation of heterologous proteins for research, industrial, and clinical purposes. Considerable advances in biotechnology have enabled the expression and isolation of recombinant proteins on a large scale.

One of the major accomplishments is the creation of recombinant proteins with cell-accessible domains. Such developments lead to new therapeutic medicine opportunities by targeting intracellular mechanisms or substituting intracellularly operating enzymes through therapeutic proteins. The first expression platform established was the prokaryotic system through Escherichia coli. The development of other expression systems, including yeast, algae, insect, and mammals, followed this. Some products used to perform protein expression in the market include reagents, competent cells, expression vectors, instruments, and others.

Highlights

• Reagents dominate the product segment
• Therapeutic dominates the application segment
• North America is the highest shareholder in the global market

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Surge in the Prevalence of Chronic Diseases

There has been a surging incidence of chronic illness across the globe. In 2001, the proportion of chronic diseases was 46% of the total disease burden worldwide, which was expected to reach 57% by 2020. More than half of the chronic disease burden is attributable to cardiovascular disease, while diabetes prevalence is alarming. The situation is alike in developed as well as developing regions. Owing to such increasing prevalence, the demand to treat and manage these chronic diseases is rising. Protein expression systems are widely used in therapeutic applications, which target major indications such as chronic diseases. Owing to this market is expected to witness growth during the forecast period.

Surge in Healthcare Expenditure Worldwide

The increase in healthcare spending substantially impacts the growth of various pharmaceutical industries in the healthcare business. National Health Expenditures (NHE), as reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the United States, totaled USD 3.3 trillion in 2016. In 2016, the NHE expanded by 4.3%, representing 17.9% of the GDP. The adoption of protein expression products, which are utilized to detect numerous chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and others, is anticipated to be fueled by this increase in healthcare spending.

Market Restraints

Stringent Regulatory Approval

Protein expression systems must adhere to strict rules because their primary use involves the treatment of numerous chronic diseases. A new protein expression system's approval process faces difficulties due to strict requirements. This significantly affects the manufacturing of new products, ultimately restraining the market growth.

Market Opportunities

Rise in Pharmaceutical Market in Emerging Regions

The pharmaceutical sector has notably expanded in emerging nations like China and India. IQVIA Holdings, Inc. predicts that over the next five years, the pharmaceutical industry will continue to grow at rates of 5% to 6% in China and 8% to 9% in India, respectively. Expanding pharmaceutical markets provides enormous opportunities to create novel treatments, which are anticipated to enhance the use of protein expression systems, helping the market grow.

Regional Analysis

North America Dominates the Global Market

Based on region, the global  market is bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

North America is the most significant global protein expression market shareholder and is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 10.1% over the forecast period. The protein expression market has a considerable contribution from North America. This is attributed mainly to North America's rising aging population and chronic diseases. The use of protein expression to discover affordable and available treatment options for chronic diseases, such as cancer, has increased over the years in this region. Furthermore, increased funding by various companies in their respective research and development sectors has further anticipated the market's growth. Due to the presence in this region of many large biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer Inc., Merck KGaA, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, and Amgen Inc., In addition, the factors that propel the expansion of the market include the rise of age-related diseases and the increase in the prevalence of chronic illnesses like cancer. The global market is also growing due to rising spending on protein research. However, the financial inputs required to produce protein products hinder the market's expansion.

Europe is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 9.6% over the forecast period. Europe ranks second in the global protein expression market, owing to the increasing use of protein expression for disease therapy such as cancer. The European countries show a high cancer prevalence rate, with around 3.45 million new cancer cases diagnosed yearly and about 1.75 million cancer deaths. The factors that boost the global market in Europe include a rise in disposable income and easy availability of the protein structure database. Furthermore, as the geriatric population is more likely to develop chronic diseases, other variables, such as the rise in the prevalence of the elderly population, support the expansion of the market in the area. Another factor influencing the market's expansion is the existence of important contract research firms that make it easier to conduct research on protein expression and then use that information to produce vaccines and antibodies.

In addition, the region's highly developed healthcare infrastructure has supported European market expansion and a strong emphasis on proteomics and genomics research activities in nations like France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Similarly, increased demand for biologics is also anticipated to boost market expansion due to the widespread prevalence of diabetes in this region.

In Asia-Pacific, protein expression demand is expected to grow higher because of the benefits associated with its use in therapeutics. Protein expression allows genetic material to be analyzed and helps track exact genetic changes that cause diseases such as cancer. This region offers lucrative opportunities for the global market and is anticipated to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period. Moreover, a rise in protein expression applications and higher healthcare costs are key drivers of the market's expansion. Furthermore, the expansion of protein expression throughout the Asia-Pacific is fueled by the existence of important market players in these areas. Asia-Pacific offers lucrative opportunities for key players operating in the global market, registering the fastest growth rate during the forecast period. In addition, the market is increasing significantly, attributed to improvements in healthcare standards, the surge in disposable income, and advancements in technology for developing advanced proteins to treat chronic diseases. Similarly, the rise in awareness toward early detection of medical conditions also contributes to the growth of the market in the region.

In LAMEA, the protein expression market is in its nascent phase due to low buying power in the region, lack of advanced healthcare facilities, inadequate health expenditure, and insufficient health coverage. The healthcare system in Brazil constitutes a large public component, a small paid health insurance component, and a third small private component in which patients pay personally for medical services. Therefore, this hinders the growth of the protein expression in this region. However, governments of the countries in LAMEA have increased their spending on the healthcare segment to attract key players to expand their businesses in this region.

Furthermore, an increase in the burden of advanced proteins in the region leads to a surge in demand for quicker healthcare services, which fuels the market's growth. The high prevalence of chronic diseases is another main factor that aids in the market growth in this region. For the past few decades, this region has witnessed the highest economic growth due to economic reforms leading to improved living standards, which created various opportunities for the research and healthcare sector. These factors, taken together, are predicted to fuel the protein expression market's expansion throughout the forecast period.

Segmental Analysis

The global protein expression market is segmented by product and application.

Based on product, the global market is bifurcated into reagents, expression vectors, competent cells, instruments, and services. 

The reagents segment dominates the global market and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 8.71% during the forecast period. The protein expression method includes reagents such as acids and bases, acrylamides, buffers, cell lysis of carbohydrates, detergents, general reagents, protease inhibitors, and solvents. These reagents have applications in research, industrial, and pharmaceutical processing. Therefore, repetitive buying of reagents for different applications is expected to boost market growth. According to the Worldwide Protein Data Bank, 158,997 structures were reported in 2019, and 11,523 were released newly. Hence, the use of proteins is majorly for research, which involves contract research organizations, owing to the rise in outsourcing activities by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for the R&D of new drugs and biologics.

Furthermore, factors like the rise in demand for advanced proteins by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, growth in research and development activities to address the therapeutic area, and investments in R&D for effective drug designing and development are important parameters for companies that propel their long-term growth in the market. This growth trend is primarily attributed to increasing research activities and large-scale production of antibodies and vaccines that require kits and reagents. Repeated buying of reagents for various applications, including therapeutic, commercial, and research, would fuel the market growth.

Competent cells consist of competent cell strains used based on the level of protein expression, such as high-level expression of recombinant proteins, highest protein expression from low-copy plasmids, highest protein expression from high-copy plasmids, and optimized for toxic proteins. These competent cells are majorly used in bacterial protein expression. Many players are active in the market and provide competent cells for protein expression and purification. For instance, Novagen is one such player, which provides competent cells for use. High full-length, soluble protein yields are crucial when generating recombinant proteins in E. coli. The bacterial strains for protein expression include the best all-purpose strains and specialty strains for difficult-to-express proteins, all backed by unwavering technical support to ensure success.

Similarly, Novagen provides Singles Competent Cells, which are supplied in 50 L volumes and avoid aliquot, freeze/thaw, or discarding partially used vials for the utmost convenience and dependability. This, in turn, saves time and money, minimizes contamination, and ensures reliable cell performance. In addition, competent cells find wide application in the treatment of protein expression. The circular DNA sequences used to create the expression and cloning vectors are not part of chromosomes. The ongoing research toward developing competent cells for protein expression contributes to market growth.

Based on application, the global market is segmented into therapeutic, industrial, and research. 

The therapeutic segment owns the highest market share and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 9.20% during the forecast period. Therapeutic proteins effectively treat various diseases, including diabetes, obesity, infectious diseases, hemophilia, and anemia. Antibodies, FC fusion proteins, hormones, interleukins, enzymes, and anticoagulants are important therapeutic proteins. Recombinant proteins are increasingly in demand for therapeutic applications. Further, human proteins created by genetic engineering play a significant role in the market for therapeutic medicines. Most recombinant therapeutic proteins are currently produced in mammalian cells because mammalian cells can produce high-quality proteins such as those that occur naturally. In addition, Escherichia coli generates many approved recombinant therapeutic proteins due to its well-characterized genetics, rapid growth, and high-yield production.

Recombinant proteins aid in illuminating the fundamental and core functions of an organism. These molecules can pinpoint where a gene encodes a protein and determine other genes' roles in various cellular processes, including protein synthesis, transcription, translation, and modification. Therefore, recombinant proteins are often used in molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, and structural and biophysical studies. Recombinant proteins are valuable tools for studying the interactions between protein and protein.

Many laboratory techniques, such as ELISA, Western Blot, and Immunohistochemistry (IHC), have proven their accuracy. Many proteins are also used in food production, agriculture, and bioengineering industries. For instance, adding enzymes to animal feed in the breeding sector can boost the nutritional content of feed ingredients, lower feed, and waste management costs, support animal gastrointestinal health, improve animal performance, and benefit the environment. In addition, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been used to produce fermented meals for a long time. More recently, LAB (Lactic Acid Bacteria) have been engineered to express recombinant proteins, which have a wide range of uses, such as enhancing human and animal digestion and nutrition.

Recent Developments

• April 2022- Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) revealed that it would invest about USD 300 million to expand its alternative protein production facilities in Decatur, Illinois, and establish a state-of-the-art Protein Innovation Center.

• October 2022- LYVA Labs, the innovation commercialization organization for the Liverpool City Region, invested EUR 250,000 in the emerging biotech Daresbury Proteins. Halton-based Daresbury Proteins manufactures proteins for use in academic and commercial research. By removing the manufacturing bottlenecks associated with cell line development, the company can also rapidly evaluate the functionality of proteins while reducing costs and risk.