By Diagnostics World Staff
July 1, 2015 | In a new market report released this morning, BCC
Research predicts the next-generation sequencing (NGS) clinical market could
grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31.3% from $997.1m in 2015 to nearly
$3.9b by 2020.
Clinical sequencing is poised to enter several key market segments,
including the molecular diagnostics industry, and growth is fueled by increased
payer acceptance of NGS-based tests, lower test costs, and a growing need for
better diagnostics as part of a molecular diagnostics trend.
Two key market segments are reproductive health and cancer.
The market for reproductive health applications is $572.9 million in
2015 and growing at a CAGR of 24.8% to reach a forecast value of $1.7 billion
by 2020. Reproductive health applications include noninvasive prenatal
screening (NIPT), newborn screening and preimplantation screening tests. NGS
has enjoyed recent success in these markets, particularly NIPT. For NIPT, NGS
offers significant clinical benefits, including no risk of miscarriage, high
accuracy and reliability, and use early in the pregnancy.
NGS-based diagnostics for cancer also present a major market
opportunity. The market for NGS-based cancer applications is $206.3 million in
2015 and growing at a CAGR of 34.7% to reach a forecast value of $915.7 million
by 2020. Among the growth drivers in the
cancer market are multi-gene screening panels, liquid biopsy tests for cancer
monitoring, targeted cancer panels for diagnosis and therapy guidance, and universal
companion diagnostics.
“The launch of next-generation sequencing technologies radically
changed the structure of the industry and opened up exciting new market
applications. The costs of sequencing have rapidly reduced to the point where
it is now feasible for complex NGS tests to be priced in the range of other
multiplex genetic tests,” says BCC research analyst John Bergin in a statement
announcing the report. “As a result, opportunities emerged in clinical
applications that are currently reaching fruition. The NGS clinical market is beginning
to establish a foothold in the molecular diagnostic industry and holds great
commercial promise.” More than 85 clinical laboratories are now offering
NGS-based testing services.