Biosensor Growth Strong in Medical, Biodefense, and Environmental Fields

NEW YORK /PRNewswire/ -- As rapid technological advances, such as microfabrication and miniaturization, are enabling biosensors to begin to penetrate developing countries, steady growth in the U.S., EU, China, and India will continue to help boost overall worldwide sales by 9.5% to exceed $4 billion by 2009.

According to Medical and Biological Sensors and Sensor Systems: Markets, Applications, and Competition Worldwide, a new study released from Kalorama Information, 2005 revenues for biosensors reached $2.9 billion, with medical applications making up the lion's share of sales. However, with strong growth in the biodefense and environmental fields as well as industrial control applications, the market is beginning to shift as biosensors become a preferred means of quick and accurate analysis.

Indeed, during the last four years, the direction of biosensor R&D significantly changed in response to new biotechnology innovations in biocomplimentary chemistry, surface characterization, molecular markers, and nanotechnology leading to increased applications in a variety of settings.

Success, however, is not based solely on innovation and technology, and commercialization for the chemical, bioprocessing, and clinical diagnostic industries is limited in comparison to the impressive number of research results.

"Biosensors are expensive, whether you're a developer or an end-user. It can take five years and cost $40 million to bring a medical sensor to the marketplace, a timeline and cost factor which can easily put sensor developers out of business," notes James P. Smith, Ph.D., the report's author. "Mass market appeal is what can turn a biosensor into an overnight sensation or leave it abandoned in a research lab. For example, blood glucose biosensors, which make up more than 80% of the medical biosensors market, are a success story that no other sensor has rivaled."

Fully updated from the ground up, this 2nd Edition of Medical and Biological Sensors and Sensor Systems provides an in-depth look at global technology and research trends and issues in current and emerging sensor markets with market data segmented by geographical region, application, and specific measurement. It can be purchased directly from Kalorama Information by clicking here. It is also available at www.MarketResearch.com.

About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent market research for the life sciences. For more information, contact Tom Ehart at 240-747-3014 or [email protected], or visit the company's Web site.