TISSUE TRANSPLANTATION PRODUCTS AND SERVICES MARKET ANALYSIS

Chronic diseases often lead to catastrophic damage to vital organs. This damage is usually irreversible and leads to lifetime dependency on medicines. Under such severe conditions, transplants remain the mainstay for restoration of healthy life. Globally, there has been a surge in tissue transplant with advances in medical biotechnology. Tissue transplantation and services market has seen an increased demand especially from high income countries. Higher prevalence of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, renal diseases and Alzheimer’s disease have post a threat of irreversible tissue damage to a large population globally. According to an article published in the Journal of Diabetes Care, in 2010, prevalence of diabetes related end stage renal disease escalated from 17,727 in 1990 to 48,215 in 2006 in the U.S. Large percentage of cancer patients need to undergo bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation procedures are essential in restoration of stem cells that have been destroyed due to high doses of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. According to World Health Organization, globally, over 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths were recorded in 2012. Thus, a large target population base exists for companies in the global tissue transplantation products and services market.

Global Tissue Transplantation Market Segment

• Based on the Tissue Type
• Cornea
• Heart Valve
• Skin Grafts
• Vascular Grafts
• Bone Marrow
• Bone Grafts

Tissue transplantation products mainly include processed stem cells, which involve multiplication and differentiation as per patient requirements. Government standards and guidelines have been set for storage and processing of stem cells for therapeutic purposes. Some of the government as well as private service providers include NHS Blood and Transplant, Tissue Services, U.K., LifeCell Corporation, Mid-America Transplant Services, Australian Red Cross Blood Service. These institutes provide storage and processing services to transplant patients. Bone marrow storage banks have been of prime importance, as they help in finding appropriate match for transplant. 

Autologous stem cell transplant has become convenient mainly due to advent of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). Scientists are trying to develop organs from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). An article published in Nature in 2013, reports the generation of a functional human organ from pluripotent stem cells. This technique surpasses the risk of immunosuppression and graft-vs-host disease associated with bone marrow transplant. Although expensive, the chances of success are higher in case of iPSC transplant procedures. Currently, the market for tissue transplant products and services is mainly driven by various advancements in iPSC methods.

As the technology is in its nascent stage of development, immense scope exists for players to enter the market. However, changing regulatory policies, and practice of un-approved tissue transplantation, especially in South-East Asia Pacific countries has impeded the growth of tissue transplant products and services market. In response to increasing demand, government funding is also expected to increase for more research in tissue transplant across the globe. As companies receive approvals for application of tissue transplant, market for service providers is expected to increase drastically. As more safety standards are established, the global tissue transplantation products and services market would enter in its growth phase. The U.S., Japan, and major European countries are preferred targets for market entry.  

Key Players: Abbott, Biomet, CryoLife, Inc., Arthrex, Exactech, Inc., Celera, Folio Biosciences, Köhler Chemie, Bristol-Myers, LifeCell Corporation, Centacor and Novartis.

Key Developments

Increasing R&D activities in tissue transplantation is expected to boost the market growth. For instance, in May 2019, researchers from AMALNA Consulting and RMIT University, in collaboration with Tithon Biotech Inc. predicted the characteristic frequencies related to parathyroid hormone activities, particularly differentiation of stem cells into osteoblasts. The research findings can aid in development of improved techniques for differentiation of stem cells in tissue transplantation and repair.

Similarly, in December 2018, the study ‘Pathological Process of Prompt Connection between Host and Donor Tissue Vasculature Causing Rapid Perfusion of the Engineered Donor Tissue after Transplantation’, published in the journal MDPI International Journal of Molecular Sciences, found that donor myocardial cell sheets including endothelial cell networks and potent pericytes could connect to host vasculature causing rapid donor tissue perfusion within 24 hours after transplantation.

In July 2018, researchers from St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Japan attempted to isolate adipose-derived stem/stromal cells from cryopreserved adipose tissue with the aim of developing a banking system and found that transplantation of adipose-derived stem/stromal cells derived from cryopreserved tissue significantly aided in restoring hindlimb movement function in injured model rats.