The European next-generation sequencing (NGS) services market is undergoing transformation propelled by rapid technological innovations.
Decreasing costs, launch of large-scale sequencing projects, and improved capacity are fuelling rapid growth. By 2023, the market will be worth US$605.0 million, spearheaded by high-end providers with superior coverage, quality and turnaround.
NGS services are primarily driven by research, followed by applied market segments. The study covers NGS conducted with next-generation platforms, such as sequencing by synthesis, sequencing by ligation, and single molecule sequencing.
Unmesh Lal, Transformational Health Program Manager at Life Sciences, said: “Low-cost and quick turnaround have amplified NGS uptake as an alternative to traditional microarray, capillary electrophoresis (CE) and Sanger methods, propelling demand across industries such as human genetics, plant and animal biotech, agriculture, microbiome, food and drug safety, and forensics.
"To align with upcoming growth opportunities in research and clinical applications, NGS service companies are expanding service lines with specialised applications beyond pure sequencing. These include customised gene panels, Exome sequencing, ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChiPseq), and methylation sequencing (MethilSeq).”
Several trends and developments bolster the European NGS services market. Including government backed, large-scale projects like flagship 100,000 Genomes and France Genomic Medicine 2025, bringing genomics to the forefront of research and making NGS routine.
Strategic alliances and collaborations are also increasing, leading to enhanced NGS bioinformatics capabilities, the launch of high-throughput sequencers are setting new service standards in coverage and accuracy. Game-changing companies are concentrating on novel Exome sequencing and RNA sequencing applications in niche market segments.
Lal said: “Stringent reimbursement policies guided by cost-containment models, a fragmented NGS value chain, and political and economic factors are however, creating market volatility in the short term. Further, advancement and consumerisation of portable, real-time sequencers may reduce dependence on service providers for small-scale project needs.”
