Growing Demand for Non-Invasive Rapid Diagnostics is causing a Surge in the Global Microfluidics Market

 

Advancements in the field of molecular biology and technical engineering have improved the diagnostics methods and results for microfluidics market. The rise of micro-electrochemical systems (MEMS) fluidics devices has led to the development of lab-on-a-chip devices, fuel cells, drug delivery devices, and rapid diagnostics.

Microfluidics has regularly been proclaimed as a distinct advantage in life sciences research and industry. The microfabrication technologies have disseminated to various fields such as flow cytometry, point-of-care diagnostics, stem cell biology, cell analysis and reproductive biology.

The main advantages of microfluidics-based point-of-care technology (POCT) include the portability of POCT devices and their delivery of quick and accurate results. This is opposed to the traditional diagnostics tests that require transport of the specimen away from the patient and execution of the tests in medical laboratories taking hours or to establish. With the continuous development in the healthcare technology, the advances of point-of-care testing can also be utilized in molecular testing, consequently improving the testing procedures even at a resource limited setting.

Microfluidics coupled with molecular diagnostics allow multiplexing and gene sequencing that enable the detection of multiple defects that are associated with a subset of patients with a disease. According to the market research published by BIS Research, the global microfluidics market generated $10,260.6 million revenue in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.73% during the forecast period from 2019-2029.

The market growth is fueled by drivers influencing the market including growing demand for non-invasive rapid diagnostics, increase in adoption of personalized medicine shifting the paradigm from reaction to prevention on a global level, and significant external funding for executing research and development exercises, among others. The impact of each of these drivers is going to be high in the next three to five years.

However, there are certain factors that are also restraining the market growth. These include lack of standardization, lack of high-complexity testing centres, and high capital requirement hampering the expansion of global reach. The impact of these challenges is expected to be medium to high in the next one or two years but is expected to reduce over a period of time.

In the addition, the global microfluidics market is dominated by key players such as Agilent Technologies, Inc., PerkinElmer, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Takara Bio Inc., Fluidigm Corporation, and Merck KGaA, among others. Moreover, it has been observed that with the increasing demand for microfluidics-based point-of-care testing and molecular diagnostics in the developed and developing economies, companies have the opportunity to expand their product portfolios in the market through different strategic approaches.