Market Challenges And Opportunities

Global Epigenetics Drugs & Diagnostic Technologies Market - Drivers

Increasing research and development activities in epigenetics

Increasing research and development in the field of epigenetics is expected to drive the global epigenetics drugs & diagnostic technologies market growth over the forecast period. For instance, according to article published in a journal, Clinical and Translational Medicine on October 3 2022, Scientist at Garvan Institute of Medical Research, an Australia-based biomedical research institute discovered new epigenetic biomarkers to predict more aggressive forms of prostate cancer. The bank of biopsies maintained for the last 20 years at Garvan and St Vincent's Hospital, allowed the researchers to analyze samples from 185 men who had their prostate removed due to a prostate cancer diagnosis in the 1990s and 2000s. The team then tracked the number of men who survived, and those who died from the disease, some more than 15 years later. The researchers looked at these genomes and identified changes on their DNA, known as DNA methylation. The methylation process can turn a gene's activity up or down without altering its DNA sequence like a mutation does.

Of those regions, 18 genes were further studied, with one standing out as a key biomarker, the CACNA2D4 gene, which is involved with calcium channel regulation. This epigenome analysis showed difference in men having lethal and non-lethal forms of prostrate cancer and these biomarkers also improved existing clinical tools for prognosis.

Increasing launch new technologies and products in epigenetics

Increasing launch of new technologies and products in epigenetics is expected to drive the global epigenetics drugs & diagnostic technologies market growth. For instance, on April 14, 2023, Biomodal, a U.K.-based life-sciences technology and analytics company, launched its new duet multiomics solution, which it says reveals the combinatorial power of genetic and epigenetic information from a single low volume sample. Duet multiomics solution +modC helps to unlock the full potential of liquid biopsies by breaking down significant barriers in the biomarker discovery research, which relies on gaining accurate, comprehensive genetic, and epigenetic data from our valuable samples. The duet multiomics solution empowers applications across many fields of disease research, delivering greater biological insights into cancer, neurodegenerative disease, aging, cell biology, and population genetics. Using cell-free DNA via liquid biopsy, duet multiomics can simultaneously detect powerful genetic and methylation biomarkers in an individual’s blood to provide unique disease insights.

Global Epigenetics Drugs & Diagnostic Technologies Market:Restraints

High cost of the epigenetic technique

The high cost of epigenetic technique is expected to hamper the global epigenetics drugs & diagnostic technologies market growth. For instance, according to an article published by Journal of Current Oncology Reports on January 26, 2022, cost of ConfirmMDx, tumor based molecular assay for localized prostate cancer is US$ 200 per individual core and slightly over. The total 1-year cost of repeated prostate cancer biopsies to the health plan was found to be nearly US$ 2,864,142. Such high costs can impact negatively on growth of market.

To counterbalance this restraint, reimbursement policies should be introduced by government.

Lack of infrastructure for epigenetics study

Lack of Infrastructure for epigenetics study is expected to hamper the global epigenetics drugs & diagnostic technologies market growth. For instance, according to an article published in Journal Biomedicines on September 18, 2021, existing preclinical and clinical studies are providing evidence that epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, play crucial roles in several metabolic diseases. Since epigenetics applied to metabolic diseases is a relatively new field of investigation, a significant limitation is the current preclinical models which make it difficult to study the interplay between diet and epigenetic changes. The animal models used in study, diet used in animal study, ability of animal system to represent only specific aspect of disease rather than the whole spectrum, set of conditions that we use to measure response, the parameters that are considered and the technically difficult invasive procedures to get biopsies are also few limitations.

To counterbalance this restrain, accurate animal models should be used for epigenetics study.