Aptamers: Therapeutics, Technologies and Services Market, Distribution by Application Area, Type of Aptamer, Target Indication, Route of Administration, Scale of Operation, Focus Area, Company Size and Key Geographical Regions: Industry Trends and Global Forecasts, 2022-2035

Post the approval of the first aptamer-based therapy, Macugen®, by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in December 2004, there has been a significant increase in the R&D initiatives focused on evaluating the potential of aptamers as theranostic agents. In the following year, the outstanding annual sales (USD 200 million) of the aforementioned product further bolstered the confidence of industry stakeholders in this new therapeutic modality, creating lucrative opportunity for therapy developers. Further, over 100 clinical trials, along with several preclinical studies, have demonstrated the potential of aptamers as a safe and effective treatment modality, owing to their unique characteristics, such as high binding affinity and specificity. Given the various advantages, aptamer-based therapeutics in the current pipeline are targeting a range of therapeutic areas, such as oncological disorders, ophthalmological disorders and metabolomic disorders. It is worth mentioning that, in order to further enhance their performance, aptamers can be linked with various diagnostic agents, using physical or chemical conjugation. Moreover, to ensure the development of more effective therapy candidates, several players have developed novel aptamer-based technologies that can be used for research, drug delivery and diagnostic applications. At present, such technologies are widely being used for pathogen recognition, cancer recognition, monitoring environmental contamination, and as stem cell markers, which can help in both disease prevention and treatment. In addition, post the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in the demand for COVID-19 testing kits, which has prompted several companies to develop aptamer-based diagnostic tools for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. Consequently, to support the various initiatives undertaken by industry players, investments worth over USD 1.3 billion have been reported in the past five years. 

Presently, a significant portion of the existing manufacturing capabilities and expertise in this domain belongs to more than 50 contract service providers. Therefore, several researchers and therapy / diagnostic developers prefer to outsource their aptamer manufacturing operations. Given the rise in global disease burden over the past few years, there has been an evident increase in the demand for effective targeted therapies along with novel diagnostic approaches to reduce development timelines and investments. We believe that, with an increase in the number of aptamer-based therapies being developed and subsequent advancement of therapies across various stages of clinical trials, and their eventual commercialization, the opportunities for custom / contract service providers is likely to increase in the foreseen future. Overall, aptamer therapeutics, technologies and services market is poised to witness healthy growth over the next decade, with pioneers in the field likely to benefit from the first-to-market advantage.

Scope of the Report

The “Aptamers: Therapeutics, Technologies and Services Market, Distribution by Application Area (Therapeutics, Research and Diagnostics), Type of Aptamer (DNA, RNA and Peptide), Target Indication (Geographic Atrophy, Macular Degeneration, Von Willebrand Diseases, Hemophilia A), Route of Administration (Intravitreal, Intravenous, Subcutaneous), Scale of Operation (Small Scale, Medium Scale and Large Scale), Focus Area (Product Development, Product Commercialization, Technology Integration, Technology Utilization and Others), Company Size (Very Small, Small, Mid-sized, Large and Very Large) and Key Geographical Regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World): Industry Trends and Global Forecasts, 2022-2035” report features an extensive study of the current market landscape and the likely future potential associated with the aptamer-based therapies, technologies and services market. The study also includes an in-depth analysis, highlighting the capabilities of various industry stakeholders engaged in this field.

Amongst other elements, the report features:

• A detailed overview of the overall market landscape of players engaged in the development of aptamer-based therapeutics, along with information on several relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size, type of aptamer (DNA aptamers, RNA aptamers, L-RNA aptamers and peptide aptamers), location of headquarters, phase of development (discovery, pre-clinical, clinical and approved), line of treatment (1st and 2nd line of treatment), mechanism of action, route of administration (intravenous, intravitreal and subcutaneous), type of therapy (monotherapy and combinational therapy), therapeutic area (bleeding disorders, bone disorders, cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, genetic disorders, hematological disorders, immunological disorders, infectious diseases, inflammatory disorders, metabolic disorders, neurological disorders, oncological disorders and ophthalmological disorders) and target indication (geographic atrophy, macular degeneration, stroke, acute stroke, ischemic stroke, multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, metastatic pancreatic cancer and others).
• A detailed overview of the current market landscape of players engaged in the development of aptamer-based technologies, based on several relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size, type of aptamer (DNA aptamers, RNA aptamers and peptide aptamers), location of headquarters, status of development (concept, under development and commercialized), type of technology used (SELEX, NGS, ELISA and others), application area (research, diagnostic and therapeutic purposes), purpose of technology (Characterization, drug discovery, drug development, identification, biomarker discovery, assay, validation and others), type of analyte (serum, plasma, saliva and others), therapeutic area (autoimmune disorders, infectious disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, neurological disorders, antibiotic resistance, bone disorders, CNS disorders, genetic disorders, infectious diseases, nephrological disorders, oncological disorders, ophthalmological disorders, oral diseases and psychological disorders) and target indication (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, breast cancer , colon cancer, dengue virus, liver cancer, prostate cancer, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv), mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, stomach cancer and others).
• A detailed overview of the current market landscape of aptamer-based service providers, along with information on several relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size, location of headquarters, type of service provider (contract research organizations, contract manufacturing organizations and third-party service providers), scale of operation (small, medium and large scale), area of application (therapeutic, diagnostic and others), type of technology used (ELISA, NGS, SELEX and others), type of technology platform (computational and others), and types of analysis offered (discovery, screening, characterization, synthesis, modification and purification).
• A detailed competitiveness analysis of aptamer-based service providers, based on several relevant parameters, such as supplier strength (in terms of years of experience), portfolio strength (in terms of number of services offered) and portfolio diversity (based on scale of operation, area of application, technology used and types of analysis offered).
• An insightful competitiveness analysis of aptamer-based technologies, based on supplier strength (in terms of years of experience), and portfolio diversity (based on type of aptamer, status of development, area of application, type of technology used and purpose of technology).
• An insightful product competitiveness analysis, benchmarking aptamer-based therapies, based on supplier strength (in terms of years of experience), and portfolio diversity (based on phase of development, line of treatment, type of therapy, route of administration and target indication).
• An analysis on the recent developments within the aptamers industry, highlighting information on several partnerships and collaborations that have been established in this domain, during the period 2016-2021. 
• A detailed analysis of various investments made by players engaged in this domain, based on several relevant parameters, such as year of investment, number of funding instances, amount invested and type of funding (venture capital financing, debt financing, grants / awards, initial public offering (IPO)) undertaken by companies engaged in this domain, during the period 2016-2021.
• An in-depth analysis of academic grants that have been awarded to various research institutes for projects focused on aptamers, based on several parameters, such as year of grant award, amount awarded, type of funding institute center, popular NIH departments, support period, emerging focus area, purpose of grants, grant activity code, local recipients, type of recipient organization study section and type of grant application. Further, the chapter also highlights the popular recipient organizations, (in terms of number of grants and amount awarded) and prominent program officers.
• A detailed review of close to 390 peer-reviewed, scientific articles related to research on aptamers, based on several parameters, such as year of publication, type of publication, and popular keywords. The chapter also provides information on the top journals, top institutes and top authors (in terms of number of articles published).
• An in-depth analysis of patents related to aptamer-based therapies and technologies, filed / granted since 2016, based on several relevant parameters, such as publication year, geographical location / patent jurisdiction, legal status, CPC symbols, emerging focus areas, type of applicant and leading players (by number of patents). In addition, it features a patent valuation analysis which evaluates the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the patents.
• A detailed analysis of completed, ongoing and planned clinical studies, based on several relevant parameters, such as trial registration year, enrolled patient population, trial status, trial phase, type of sponsor / collaborator, patient segment, target therapeutic area, study design, most active players and regional distribution of trials.
• An analysis of the start-ups (established between 2011-2020; less than 200 employees) engaged in this domain, based on several parameters, such as number of technologies offered, type of aptamer, status of development, area of application, type of technology used and purpose of technology.
• Elaborate profiles of prominent players (shortlisted based our proprietary scoring criteria) engaged in this domain. Each company profile features a brief overview of the company, along with information on its year of establishment, number of employees, location of headquarters and key executives. It also includes details on their respective product portfolio, recent developments and an informed future outlook.
• Elaborate profiles of prominent technologies (shortlisted based our proprietary scoring criteria) developed by players engaged in this domain. Each technology profile features a brief overview of the company, along with information on its year of establishment, number of employees, location of headquarters and key members of the executive team. It also includes details on their respective technology portfolio, recent developments and an informed future outlook.
• An informed estimate of the annual clinical and commercial demand for aptamer-based therapeutics, taking into account the target patient population in ongoing and planned clinical trials focused on aptamer-based therapies, sponsored by both industry and non-industry players.

One of the key objectives of the report was to understand the primary growth drivers and estimate the future size of the aptamer-based therapies, technologies and services market. We have provided an informed estimate of the evolution of the market for the period 2022-2035. Our year-wise projections of the current and future opportunity have further been segmented on the basis of [A] application area (therapeutics, research and diagnostics), [B] type of aptamer (DNA, RNA and peptide), [C] target indication (geographic atrophy, macular degeneration, Von Willebrand diseases, hemophilia A), [D] route of administration (intravitreal, intravenous, subcutaneous), [E] scale of operation (clinical and commercial), [F] focus area (product development, product commercialization, technology integration, technology utilization and others), [G] company size (very small, small, mid-sized, large and very large) and [H] key geographical regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific And Rest of the World). In order to account for future uncertainties and to add robustness to our model, we have provided three forecast scenarios, namely conservative, base and optimistic scenarios, representing different tracks of the market’s evolution.

Key Questions Answered

• Who are the key players engaged in the development of aptamer-based therapeutics and technologies?
• Which are the key drugs being evaluated across early and late stages of development?
• Which companies are actively involved providing aptamer-based services? 
• What is the evolving trend of publications focused on aptamer-based therapeutics and technologies?
• What type of partnership models are commonly adopted by industry stakeholders? 
• Who are the key investors in this domain? 
• Which companies are actively filing patents to drive innovation in this niche segment?
• What are the different initiatives undertaken by start-up players for the development of aptamer-based technologies in the recent past?
• How is the current and future opportunity likely to be distributed across key market segments?