Cultivating Market Opportunities in Plant Biotechnology

Although hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public and private funds are being invested into plant science each year, only a select group of suppliers of research products and instrumentation have aggressively moved to dominate this market. According to a recent survey of more than 580 scientists engaged in applied plant research, Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL), Qiagen (NASDAQ:QGENF) and Invitrogen (NASDAQ:IVGN) are the suppliers that researchers most commonly associate with products designed to support this fast-growing segment.

ARLINGTON, VA -- November 21, 2002 -- Although hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public and private funds are being invested into plant science each year, only a select group of suppliers of research products and instrumentation have aggressively moved to dominate this market. According to a recent survey of more than 580 scientists engaged in applied plant research, Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL), Qiagen (NASDAQ:QGENF) and Invitrogen (NASDAQ:IVGN) are the suppliers that researchers most commonly associate with products designed to support this fast-growing segment.

BioInformatics, LLC (Arlington, VA), a leading provider of market research to the biotechnology industry, recently published these results in its report, Plant Biotechnology: Opportunities for Research Product Suppliers." The report describes the research techniques currently in use and what technological and product solutions still need to be developed to support plant research. Specifically designed for those suppliers looking to leverage their expertise in currently served markets, the report examines how to apply such knowledge to the unmet needs of this evolving segment.

The rapid advances in genomic technology that developed as a result of studying animal systems have also benefited plant researchers. Indeed, molecular biology has moved to the forefront of plant research with two-thirds of the plant researchers surveyed describing themselves as molecular biologists. In fact, 87% of those surveyed employ PCR in their investigations. Additionally, in spite of considerable technical challenges, and in some cases, high costs, some of the technologies developed for functional genomics have already achieved prominence in the plant research segment. One relatively new technology is expression microarrays, which are already in wide use with almost one-third of those surveyed using them in their research.

However, tools and techniques specifically designed for plant research lag behind those developed for animal systems. While the life science industry is meeting the needs of plant genomic researchers in the area of transformation-the ability to introduce foreign genes into plants-one-third of survey respondents expressed a desire for more plant specific kits and reagents. At the top of the list were kits for RNA purification and protein expression. Plant researchers are rightfully complaining that the lack of plant specific kits negatively affects their productivity since they have to spend extra time and effort to optimize kits targeted at the mammalian market," observes Dr. Tamara Zemlo, senior science advisor for BioInformatics.

Furthermore, since some plant genomes can be up to five times the size of a human genome, new strategies to identify and concentrate gene rich segments of these genomes will be necessary before large-scale sequencing can be attempted. And given the substantial amounts of data that will be generated from these large genomes, better data handling and storage tools will be needed as well. There is already dissatisfaction with the databases and software tools currently available. Of the plant researchers surveyed in this study, only 5% were very satisfied with the bioinformatics tools at their disposal.

Success in the plant science segment will hinge upon a suppliers recognition that growth cant be sustained only be selling existing products within the boundaries of the applications that define the life science market today. The results of this survey indicate that suppliers must develop the foresight to spot unexploited opportunities and stake out a new competitive position," says Bill Kelly, President of BioInformatics.

For a complimentary Executive Summary of this report, please visit http://www.gene2drug.com/reports

ABOUT BIOINFORMATICS, LLC

BioInformatics, LLC is a market research firm located in Arlington, Virginia. BioInformatics supports marketing, sales and R&D executives in the life science, medical device and pharmaceutical industries through published research reports, custom research and consulting. BioInformatics sponsors the worlds largest market research panel of scientific customers - The Science Advisory Board (http://www.scienceboard.net) - which consists of more than 13,500 scientists, physicians and other life science and medical professionals from 62 countries who participate in surveys that address emerging technologies, test customer reactions to new product concepts, measure brand awareness and assess advertising effectiveness.