Oncology, Drug Development and Toxicology to Fuel Rise of 3D Cell Culture
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3D cell culture is an environment that is artificially created and inside of which biological cells are allowed to grow. The method of 3D cell culture is an improvement on the previous 2D method used for growing cells, as the 3D model works more accurately for in vivo testing. 3D cell cultures are suitable for studying disease models and are being adopted by numerous research institutes and laboratories, biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies, and hospitals for enhanced output.
Increasing Demand for Organ Transplantation to Propel 3D Cell Culture Market
3D cell culture has the ability to enhance cell-based drug screening and is also able to identify ineffective and toxic substances at an earlier stage of the pipeline of drug discovery as compared to clinical or animal trials. The global market for 3D cell culture is experiencing exponential growth owing to the increasing utilization of 3D culture for oncology drug development and toxicology, increasing investments by prime players, and increased funding by government bodies for making innovative tools. In addition, rising activities of research, increasing demand for organ transplantation, and the ability of 3D cell cultures to replace animals in pharmaceutical and research testing are further fuelling the market for 3D cell culture. On the other hand, factors such as budgetary limitations experienced by medium and small-sized laboratories and absence of consistency in 3D cell culture products are impeding the growth of the market.
3D Cell Culture’s Higher Stability and Longer Lifespan as Compared to 2D Cultures to Boost Market
At present, a number of culturing tools are commercially available that present the advantages of 3D cell culture. The key categories among these include extracellular matrices or scaffolds, rotating bioreactors, modified surfaces, magnetic levitation, microcarriers, magnetic 3D bioprinting, and hanging drop plates. 3D cell culture finds its application in a number of areas such as drug discovery, research, clinical applications, stem cell biology, and tissue engineering.
There are a number of advantages of 3D cell culture over 2D cell culture. 3D cell culture presents better cell polarization depiction as compared to 2D, as in 2D cultures, the cells are only partially polarized. Cells grown in 3D cell culture display different gene expression as compared to those grown in 2D cultures and provide more accurate results. 3D cell cultures are more stable and have longer lifespans as compared to 2D cell cultures. This is why 3D cell cultures are being used in place of 2D cell cultures, as they are more reliable for demonstration of long-term effects of the drug.
Europe 3D Cell Culture Market Emerges as Biggest Market
On the basis of geography, the 3D cell culture market is segmented into Europe, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Amongst these, Europe leads the market and in Europe, the UK held the biggest share in the 3D cell culture market. The reasons for the dominance of the UK include increasing investments, rising activities of research, and the ability of 3D cell cultures to replace animals within pharmaceutical and research testing.
The prominent players operating in the 3D cell culture market include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Corning Incorporated, Dickinson and Company, Becton, 3D Biotek LLC, 3D Biomatrix, Inc., Lonza Group, InSphero AG, Global Cell Solutions, Inc., and Reinnervate Ltd, among others.
