Stem Cell Research Products 2020 - Opportunities, Tools, & Technologies

A Large and Rapidly Growing Market for Stem Cells Research Products has Emerged

Stem cells are primitive cells found in all multi-cellular organisms that are characterized by self-renewal and the capacity to differentiate into mature cell types.

Several broad categories of stem cells exist, including:

• Embryonic stem cells, derived from blastocysts
• Perinatal stem cells, obtained during the period immediately before and after birth
• Adult stem cells, found in adult tissues
• Induced pluripotent stem cells, produced by genetically reprogramming adults cells
• Cancer stem cells, which give rise to clonal populations of cells that form tumors or disperse in the body

Stem cell research and experimentation have been in process for well over five decades, as stem cells have the unique ability to divide and replicate repeatedly. In addition, their “unspecialized” nature allows them to differentiate into a wide variety of specialized cell types. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells.

The possibilities arising from these characteristics have resulted in great commercial interest, with potential applications ranging from the use of stem cells in reversal and treatment of disease to cell therapy, tissue regeneration, bioprinting, drug discovery, toxicology testing, and more. Of interest to clinical researchers is the potential to use stem cells within regenerative medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry is integrating stem cells to conduct pharmacological testing on cell-specific tissues. There is also demand for extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from stem cells because they can act as intercellular messengers and may be able to exert some types of therapeutic effects. 

Traditionally, scientists have worked with both embryonic and adult stem cells as research tools. While the appeal of embryonic cells has been their ability to differentiate into any type of cell, there has been significant ethical, moral, and spiritual controversy surrounding their use for research purposes. Although some adult stem cells do have differentiation capacity, it is often limited in nature, which results in fewer options for use. Thus, when induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were discovered in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan, they represented a promising combination of adult and embryonic stem cell characteristics.

iPSCs are adult cells that are isolated and then transformed into embryonic-like stem cells through the manipulation of gene expression and other methods. The first successful generation of iPSCs was via research and experimentation using mouse cells at Kyoto University in Japan. In 2007, a series of follow-up experiments were done at Kyoto University in which human adult cells were transformed into iPSC cells. Nearly simultaneously, a research group led by James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison accomplished the same feat of deriving iPSC lines from human somatic cells.

To facilitate research resulting from an interest in these far-ranging applications, a large and rapidly growing market for stem cell research products has emerged. Today, well over one-hundred companies produce products to support the activities of stem cell scientists worldwide. The tools commercialized by these companies include ones to isolate, expand, culture, differentiate, and characterize stem cells, as well as technologies to enable their production at any scale.

Broad categories of stem cell research products include, but are not limited to: 

• Stem cell lines (such as iPSCs, MSCs, HSCs, NSCs, and ESCs)
• Stem cell culture media with supplements
• Consumables (such as antibodies, consumables in assays, cryoprotective agents and microcarriers)
• Instruments (such as freezers, bioreactors, cytometry devices, and assay systems)
• Stem cell services

Specifically, the following compose the majority of stem cell product sales:

• Primary antibodies to stem cell antigens
• Bead-based stem cell separation systems
• Fluorescent-based labeling and detection
• Stem cell protein purification and analysis tools
• Tools for DNA and RNA-based characterization of stem cells
• Isolation/characterization services
• Stem cell culture media and reagents
• Stem cell-specific growth factors and cytokines
• Tools for stem cell gene regulation
• Mechanisms for in vivo and in vitro stem cell tracking
• Expansion/differentiation services for stem cell media and RNAi
• Stem cell lines
• Done-for-you or done-with-you services

With market competition growing increasingly fierce, ten of the largest companies selling stem cell research products are:

• Thermo Fisher Scientific
• BD Biosciences, a Division of Becton Dickinson (BD)
• Merck KGaA
• Miltenyi Biotec
• STEMCELL Technologies
• Lonza Group
• Takara Bio
• GE Healthcare Life Sciences
• FUJIFILM CDI
• Sigma Aldrich

Furthermore, there are many specialty vendors of stem cell research products, such as FUJIFILM CDI, ReproCELL and Ncardia (who specialize in iPSC-related products), RoosterBio (who specializes in human MSC-specific products), and Corning (who specializes in Matrigel products to support pluripotent stem cell culture and culture-ware), for example.

Key report findings include:

• Stem cell research applications, including priorities by segment
• The relative demand for stem cell products, by stem cell type
• Analysis of stem cell manufacturing technologies, including costs, risks, and the rise of contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs)
• Analysis of market trends, including opportunities and threats
• Competitive analysis for 128 market participants composing the global market
• Market size determination, including detailed segmentation and 5-year projections

Input Sources

The content and statistics contained in this report were compiled using a broad range of sources. These input sources include:

• Interviews with Stem Cell Executives, completed by the publisher’s Founder and Analysts
• Stem Cell Grant Funding Database (Report Database, CIRM, MRC, Wellcome Trust - UK)
• Stem Cell Patent Database (United States Patent and Trade Office, World Intellectual Property Organization)
• Stem Cell Clinical Trial Database (ClinicalTrials.gov, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, European Union Clinical Trials Register)
• Stem Cell Scientific Publication Database (PubMed, Highwire Press, Google Scholar)
• Stem Cell Product Launch Announcements (Trade Journals, Google News)
• Stem Cell Industry Events (Google News, Google Alerts)
• Stem Cell Company News (SEC Filings, Investor Publications, Historic Performance)
• Social Analytics Platforms (Google Trends, Google Adwords, BuzzSumo)
• And More

The possibilities arising from stem cells have resulted in great commercial interest. The purpose of this report is to reveal market dynamics affecting basic and translational research, clinical and commercial applications, and the rising demand for stem cell research products on a global basis. Importantly, it unveils the identities of leading market competitors and presents a market size breakdown, including detailed segmentation with 5-year projections. Use it to identify emerging market opportunities, spot new product development opportunities before your competition, and make smarter decisions, faster.