New trends and innovations are sweeping through the analytical instrument industry with the development of rapid testing instruments and biochips. This in turn has enhanced the growth momentum of analytical instrument industry. Attracted by the prospects, instrumentation majors across the globe are in a race to develop advanced and handy equipments to win the large customer base.
As per the new trend, analytical instruments are being designed as hand held gadgets, making it easy for scores of users in the chemical and biotechnology laboratories in the industrial, research and scientific sectors.
The new design has transformed the instruments into small ones, but notwithstanding their size, they are powerful in making operations in laboratory faster, simpler and accurate, said a section of industry experts.
An emerging trend in the analytical instrumentation space is the development of robots, biochips and rapid testing instruments, which are driving the market, noted the organizers of Analytica Anacon 2007.
Therefore, the instrumentation majors across the globe are now gearing up to design advanced and handy equipment that are getting popular in markets like India. A growing requirement from genetic research, medicine, pharma, food and environment has made the analytical researchers come out with simple, powerful and hand held versions of instruments, which are easy to carry and operate, said, Schraudy, who was part of the Internationaler Messe and Ausstellungsdienst GmbH (IMAG).
There is a growing requirement for faster tests and instant reports in the medical, biotech and pharma sector. Accuracy in analysis is focused towards quality assurance, material testing and nanotechnology. Some of the important analytical instruments are:
● Raman Spectroscopy applications by Perkin Elmer
● Chromotographic Networking by Dionex
● GC-MS and LC-MS Technologies by Waters
● Ultra Fast Liquid Chromatography by Shimadzu
The bigwigs in the global analytical instrument space comprise Agilent Technologies, Waters Corporation, Millipore Inc, Sartorius, Varian, Sigma Aldrich, Dion EX, YMC, GmbH, Restsch, Eppendorf, Thermo Electron Corporation, Perkin Elmer, Netzsch, Shimadzu, Merck, Mettler and Toledo.
India is an interesting market because of increasing contract research and clinical trial projects, besides high level of scientific manpower availability. Despite being a knowledge-driven industry, the analytical instrumentation market is still hardly visible, according to the analytical instrument manufacturers.
In 2006, the global market for analytical instruments was valued at Euro 20 billion, reflecting an additional 10 per cent growth compared to 2005. The size of the Indian market was estimated at Euro 527 million in 2006 with a 15 per cent growth over the last year.
According to C Shetty, member, executive committee, Indian Analytical Instruments Association (IAIA), the Indian market has been growing consistently and there is more scope for business development. The increase in pharma and biotech manufacturing activities, drug research and development, contract manufacturing and research services has turned India into an important destination for sales of analytical instruments, he added.
The big three analytical instrumentation companies in the country located at Bangalore are Millipore India, Sartorius India and Waters India and Pall Corporation.
With its focus on upstream processing, downstream processing and process monitoring tools, Millipore India will now provide the much-needed competitive strength in the lab solutions space for India and South East Asian markets. In 2007, the company introduced the disposable technology (Aseptic Transfer), which is part of its Mobius flexible bioprocess solutions. It includes filtration products, process containers, connectors and valves with design, validation and support services that will help integrate and deliver a complete disposable solution. The technology improves both lab and biopharmaceutical manufacturing productivity.
Amit Chatterjee, managing director, Sartorius India, said, "the biggest challenge for Sartorius India is the cell culture and fermentation requirements, which it needs to deliver for both India and its customers in the Asia Pacific region. In this connection, the company has gone in for a major infrastructure expansion, including its SAP implementation network project, an application lab for cell culture and down stream purification technologies in the present premises at the Peenya industrial area at Bangalore."
Waters and Lambda Therapeutic Research Ltd has entered into a joint cooperative agreement to provide innovative analytical laboratory equipment designed to increase research quality service and business solutions for Lambda and its clients.
Pall Corporation has opened its new center of excellence in Bangalore. The center will provide the country's pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and discovery marketplace with a full range of total fluid management solutions. It will include a state-of-the-art process proteomics lab designed specifically to help customers to speed up the discovery process, a training facility and a validation laboratory to meet the growing need for support as Indian companies enter the highly regulated drug export market.
The growth of the life sciences market and increasing investments from the venture capitalists in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, an increase in the government spending on research and development and other factors are all encouraging suppliers to look at India as a destination to make their presence felt. Leading players like Shimadzu, VWR International and Agilent Technologies have now opened customer support and development centers to meet the requirements of the local customers directly.
Shimadzu Analytical (India) Pvt. Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shimadzu Corporation, Japan, has opened its customer support center equipped with state-of-the-art instruments. Shimadzu has been marketing its products in India through its distributors Toshvin Analytical, Amkette Analytics, Swan Environmental, and Spinco Biotech for more than 35 years.
Agilent Technologies has launched a new product demonstration center in Bangalore, India and at its Santa Clara, California, corporate headquarters to showcase its life sciences and chemical analysis capabilities. It also plans to set up R&D center in Bangalore as part of its expansion plans by investing $35 million in India over two years.
VWR International, a global distributor, has opened a full-service, wholly owned subsidiary called VWR Lab Products Pvt. Ltd in Bangalore and a branch office in Mumbai, to better serve the needs of the rapidly expanding pharmaceutical and biotech industry in the subcontinent.