Roots Analysis has released its latest overview on the Cell and Gene Therapy CROs Market (2nd Edition), 2021-2030, covering key aspects of the industry and identifying areas for potential future growth.
“The opportunity is likely to be well distributed across therapeutic areas, scales of operation, types of therapies and key geographical regions,” said the analysts.
The advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) sector, including cell and gene therapy (CGTs) developers. is a relatively niche area, with the presence of several start-ups/small-sized developers dominating the development landscape. “About 52% of cell and gene therapy developers are small players.”
And, over time, said the analysts, outsourcing has become a preferred operating model for product development activity in this domain, with CROs making significant investments towards acquiring advanced technologies and the capacity to accommodate their growing clientele.
“The R&D of biologics is complex and time intensive process, requiring sophisticated techniques and dedicated infrastructure, which is readily available with contract service providers. Further, these service providers adhere to the rapidly evolving regulatory environment, acting as a key enabler to the broader industry’s evolution in the coming years.”
The study noted that, currently, over 100 industry players claim to have the necessary capabilities to offer contract research and clinical trial support for ATMPs.
Close to 38% of the CROs engaged in this domain are large companies, having required capabilities to provide services for both types of therapies. Examples of new entrants – those established since 2018 - that claim to offer clinical services include Geistek Pharma, The Discovery Labs, KCT and Longmore 60 Biotech, reported the market specialists.
Around 45% of cell and gene therapy CROs offer research related services across both, preclinical and clinical scales of operations, while some 74% of players offer CRO players offer regulatory and data management services for cell and gene therapies, according to the analysis.
Consolidation trend
Both established players and new entrants have forged several partnerships in the recent past; most of the deals were focused on cell therapy, said the analysts, citing examples of the companies that have signed multiple international deals: Accelovance, Charles River, Laboratories, and CitoxLab.
In pursuit of a competitive edge and to eventually establish themselves as one-stop shops, stakeholders are also actively consolidating their capabilities related to cell and gene therapies through mergers and acquisitions, commented the authors.
Some are pursuing such activity for geographical consolidation reasons as shown by the acquisition of Synteract by Syneos Health in December 2020, some for portfolio addition, as seen in Comparative Biosciences being bought by Genesis Biotechnology in August 2020. Others have gone down the M&A route to expand their portfolios: the acquisition of Absorption Systems by Pharmaron in December last year is a case in point, while geographic expansion was the rationale behind the acquisition of Veristat by TCTC Group in January 2020, according to the market specialists.