Biotech is disrupting how we approach health, medicine, and agriculture. Even without the impact of COVID-19, several trends in biotech have propelled rapid innovation.
Industry expansion has followed such innovation. The global biotechnology market is currently valued at 752.8 Billion — and growing. The development of breakthrough health initiatives from biotech will transform our future as we tackle global problems including disease, environmental pollution, and food management.
Understanding these trends in biotechnology can help companies capitalize on the explosive growth potential of the industry. But before you can harness the potential of these new technologies and practices, it is essential to understand the context and challenges around biotech.
This article will cover the trends in biotech that are set to change the world.
WHAT IS BIOTECH?
Biotech is a field of technology that implements biomolecular and cellular processes in the creation of healthcare, food, and fuel products.
The usage of biological systems and organisms is not new — humans have relied on microorganisms for thousands of years to create items like yogurt, bread, alcohol, and cheese.
The 1970s ushered in an era of genetic engineering, giving rise to biotech based on DNA modification. As the demand for biotech advancements and genetic sequencing activity continues to expand, the industry projects a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.8% between 2021 and 2028.
There are three primary sectors of biotech:
Biotech in Medicine
Pharmaceuticals, therapies, genetics, and clinical research are all examples of medicinal biotech applications. These fields use nature's organic "toolbox" to improve health outcomes for people. For example, there are now more than 250 biotechnology health care products available for previously untreatable conditions. Biotech in medicine can:
- Reduce infectious disease rates
- Change the probabilities of life-threatening conditions emerging for people around the world
- Create treatments specific to the individual to minimize health risk
- Help those with illnesses in the developing world
Biotech in Industry
Biofuels, paper, and chemicals are all examples of biotech used in industry. By utilizing biological processes, the energy and manufacturing sectors can leverage yeast, enzymes, microbes, and other biocatalysts to manufacture microscopic solutions. Biotech involves using these biocatalysts to:
- Improve chemical manufacturing efficiency
- Lower the cost of cleaning clothes through temperature reductions
- Save money on manufacturing operation costs
- Minimize industry reliance on petrochemicals
- Reduce greenhouse gases via the use of biofuels
- Lower water usage and waste
Biotech in Agriculture
Sustainable farming and crop insect-resistance are examples of biotech in agriculture. These applications rely on existing microorganisms to modify and enhance agricultural products, making them safer and more efficient to produce.
Worldwide, biotech in agriculture is anticipated to grow by $25.3 billion between 2021 and 2025. Agricultural biotech can help:
- Produce more crop yield with fewer resources
- Aid the environment by reducing the chemicals and runoff from crop production
- Create more resilient crops without the use of pesticides
- Alleviate vitamin and nutritional deficiencies to improve crops
- Alter the oil content in food to reduce heart health risks
- Create food without mycotoxins or allergens
New biotech innovations arise every day, and the industry will continue to grow as humans seek to surpass biological challenges with specific research-based solutions.
TRENDS IN BIOTECH
Biotech is undergoing a global evolution. The most notable innovations in biotech involve personalized medicine, drug research, artificial intelligence, big data, and synthetic biology.
Let’s take a closer look at these growing trends in biotech.
Personalized Medicine
Personalized medicine is growing as a result of the reduced time and cost. The first genome sequencing project that began in 1990 took about 13 years — and $2.7 billion — to complete. Today, you can buy a quick at-home genome sequencing test for around $299.
With personalized biotechnology, medical professionals can analyze genetics to identify medical risks in patients. By basing medical innovation on genetic sequencing, doctors develop unique, tailor-made health solutions.
Another benefit of personalized medicine is that it uses data compiled from screened clinical trials, enabling medical professionals to create individual treatment and therapy from those insights. An increase in personalized therapy is advantageous for general treatment as it identifies medical issues at their source: the patient's molecular and genetic profile.
For instance, personalized cancer treatment for leukemia (blood cancer) called CAR T-cell therapy targets immune cells, stimulating the immune system to target tumors.
Drug Research
Drug research is one of the most promising biotech trends due to advancements in smart technology. Traditionally, drug research faced challenges with getting enough participants for trials, and long production timelines that can run into years. Machine learning technology presents immense possibilities for drug research, as well as ways to improve and assess diagnosis and treatment with medications.
Just as telehealth provides a bridge over time and space to speed up triaging without patients having to physically visit a doctor, biotechnology accelerates drug production timelines without drugmakers having to actually get thousands of participants to complete clinical trials.
Biotech companies can quickly analyze data from current trials and revisit data from previous trials. This analysis and ability to combine vast datasets offers the insight needed to provide a more accurate diagnosis, and ultimately, devise enhanced medicines and treatment paths for patients.
A prime example is aducanumab, the medicine that many hope will cure Alzheimer’s disease. After a setback in March 2021, the drugmaker Biogen reported “a larger dataset for the EMERGE trial had become available, and that analysis of this dataset had shown a significant reduction in clinical decline.”
MRI scans and other in-patient monitoring devices provide medical professionals with more objective data that allows them to develop better drug treatments for patients. Biotech advances have made clinical trials less of a manual process, so drug manufacturers have lower costs when recruiting fewer in-person patients for trials.
With the digitization of clinical trials, biotech companies can combine genetic and biometric information to determine underlying causes of conditions such as heart disease.
