Biochips advancement held back by high price
environment have promoted the uptake of biochips in clinical
research applications. However, the report identified the high
prices as a prime area of concern.
Central to this growth is the adoption of Pharmacogenomics, which is set to fundamentally alter the dynamics of the diagnostics market by ushering in the concept of personalised medicine.
The ability to promote individualised treatment by uncovering how genetic inheritance triggers varied drug responses in people will give rise to more effective treatments and hence a more favourable patient response.
Phenotypic diagnosis may become the prime beneficiary with regard to biochip technology applications, as morphological features will be used to determine the disease prognosis, as in the case of a tumour.
Identifying relevant disease specific markers holds the key to using these biochips in real-time diagnostics. Killer disease applications like cancer and Alzheimer's will provide the major impetus to implanting this chip technology within clinics.
"With the recent FDA guidelines on pharmacogenomics and the steady growth potential anticipated in the biochips markets, companies can boost their revenues and market shares, if they focus on developing disease specific biomarkers with genomics/proteomics technology," said Frost & Sullivan's research analyst Charanya Ramachandran.
However, while the emergence of personalised medicine has positively influenced the growth of array technologies in clinical diagnostics, the key obstacle lies in obtaining consistent and statistically relevant readouts.
The report said this was creating a need for easy to use systems equipped with robust infrastructure that are capable of providing consistent results in the clinical research phase.
"Standardisation of array platforms bolstered with robust bioinformatics infrastructure and the ability to prove clinical utility with reliable readouts can give a superior edge to these high enabling technologies," added Ramachandran.
One of the key issues confronting both vendors and researchers are the high cost of chip-based solutions. Owing to the premium pricing of array-based diagnostic tools, the commercial use of biochip applications in clinical settings has lagged.
In addition to the limited reimbursements available, insufficient knowledge about their clinical utility has made hospitals cautious about investing in chip-based diagnostic kits.
Despite these reservations, the $14.1 million (€11.5 million) European market for biochips in clinical research is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 24.6 per cent over the period 2004 to 2011 to reach $65.6 million.
Protein chips are expected to have a higher growth potential than DNA chips in clinical research as most drug targets are proteins and post-translational modifications can be avoided.
"There is very little that has changed over the past two decades to convert solid science to a more functional business commodity in the realm of clinical diagnostics," said Ramachandran.
She added that companies needed to work with government funding bodies and regulatory bodies to make biochips more affordable and ensure their successful commercialisation.
"While launching a drug compound with the regulatory body, a parallel endeavour in the accompanying therapies for the specific disease will nurture the growing trend of theranostics, which is the new mantra for better quality of life," she added.
