Getting a Handle on Nanomedicine
By Marissa Kuzirian, Investment Manager, PLSG In collaboration with Fourth River Solutions
Imagine a market valued at $135 billion, yet still considered too immature in which to invest. A market that deals in products invisible to the naked eye, yet which can yield incredible advances in human health. That market is known as nanomedicine.
Defined as the application of knowledge and tools of nanotechnology to the prevention and treatment of disease, nanomedicine features applications such as biosensors, tissue engineering, diagnostic markers, and therapeutics. The promise of nanomedicine for the healthcare industry includes enabling personalized medicine, permitting clinical protocols to become more efficient, providing targeted delivery mechanisms and formulations that can cross the blood brain barrier, and enabling novel implant surfaces that can avoid infections.
The nanomedicine global market is currently valued at $135 billion and is projected to increase to $212 billion, $287 billion, and $365 billion by 2020, 2025, and 2030 respectively. These figures derive from the current development pace of products awaiting FDA approval and the major impact of the market associated with anticancer therapies.
Despite this growing global market, investors have held back from committing dollars to nanomedicine to date because the field remains in its infancy and the field somewhat ill-defined. At this point, most activity, technologies, and delivery systems have centered in and around oncology to treat cancers.
North America has captured 45% of the total market, with Europe and Asia Pacific following, at 35% and 15%, respectively. Industry watchers anticipate North America to continue dominating the market for the next five years, while the European market is expected to see the fastest growth rate due to an extensive product pipeline portfolio, an improving regulatory framework, and an increase in European Commission innovation initiatives.
In the U.S., the FDA is still determining how best to evaluate and regulate nanotechnology and as this comes into focus, investors are likely to become more keen to engage.
The truth remains, nanomedicine represents an incredibly diverse marketplace of opportunity and advancement, featuring a variety of products that can be segmented in multiple ways. It has the potential to significantly impact the field of life sciences for generations. Look for additional articles from the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and Fourth River Solutions exploring the future of nanomedicine.
# # #