Liquid Handling Systems Market Size By Device Type (Manual, Electronic, Automated), By Product (Pipettes {Manual Pipettes, Electronic Pipettes}, Dispensers, Burettes, Automated Workstation, Microplate Readers, Consumables), By Application (Drug Discovery, Clinical Diagnostics, Cancer and Genomics Research), By End-use (Diagnostic Centers, Research and Academic Institutes, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Industry), COVID-19 Impact Analysis, Regional Outlook, Application Development Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2021 – 2027

Industry Trends

Liquid Handling Systems Market size was valued at around USD 3 billion in 2020 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of over 6.4% between 2021 and 2027. Soaring investments in research activities for drug discovery and development is anticipated to augment the demand for liquid handling systems. The rising number of research activities and investments are poised to promote the demand for liquid handling systems in research laboratories and biopharmaceutical industries, thereby propelling the market growth.
 

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However, complexity and shortage of skilled labour with technical expertise to use liquid handling systems may have a negative impact on the liquid handling systems market expansion. Liquid handling systems, especially the automated systems and full-scale workflow stations are complex in nature and hence require skilled operators to handle them. Dearth of skilled workforce, especially in the developing countries may limit the use of these instruments. In India, the number surged to 61%, while in Brazil around 68% employers faced challenges recruiting the workforce with desired technical expertise.
 

The high cost associated with certain liquid handling instruments may further obstruct the liquid handling systems market demand. According to the BMC Genomics, buying liquid-handling workstation requires budget availability and has significant investment associated as the prices of these workstations approximately vary between USD 50,000 to USD 250,000. Moreover, the U.S. FDA closely monitors the development of these instruments and grants market approval based on their performance. Majority of these devices are classified as Class 1 devices as per FDA classification. Although other guidelines such as the 21 CFR 211, Code of Federal Regulations regulates the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) are mandatory. The subpart D of CFR states that instrument used to produce drugs have to be calibrated, inspected or checked periodically; subpart I concentrates on the laboratory controls and mandates calibration of liquid handling instruments at timely intervals to ensure accuracy.
 

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be beneficial for the liquid handling systems and rendered a positive impact on the liquid handling systems market. The transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus hampered various sectors of the economy along with healthcare industry. The COVID-19 pandemic inflicted enormous pressure on healthcare infrastructure and hampered the operational capabilities of the biopharmaceutical companies and clinical laboratories. There was extensive pressure on the laboratories to increase testing capacity, R&D activities and offer clinical outcomes at rapid speed. According to a published article, the overall testing volumes soared to 245% of the pre-pandemic volume. Experts estimate substantial COVID-19 testing throughout 2021 as well as in 2022 to some extent.
 

The rising pressure to accelerate R&D and testing volume led to adoption of automated liquid handling systems as these systems aid in handling large volumes of PCR tests with accurate clinical outcomes. For instance, several hospitals across Europe adopted flow bot One, a Danish pipetting robot that assists in automation of COVID testing processes. The automated liquid-handling robot offered by Flow Robotics, helps in fastening COVID-19 test analysis. Automated handling instruments facilitate sample preparation, pipetting tasks, and PCR analysis in laboratories and further promote up-scaling the operations ensuring high accuracy.
 

Growing number of research studies in biopharmaceutical industry coupled with increasing clinical trials will to stimulate the liquid handling systems market progression

There has been surge in the research and development activities along with heavy investments for development of novel therapeutics that offer valuable medical benefits. The number of approved drugs is significantly high and further growing, considering the fact that only 12% of drugs participating in the clinical trials are approved by the U.S. FDA. This indicates the growing instances of R&D activities in the biopharmaceutical sector that are projected to increase in the near future. The growth in research activities is linked with increasing demand for fluid handling systems as these instruments are crucial in dispensing liquid samples in accurate quantities.
 

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) study indicates that the R&D spending figures have soared over the recent years, with the spending accounting for 18% in the last decade, and the number has been peaking since the last few years, and surpassed the 25% mark in the year 2018 and 2019. According to the ClinicalTrials.gov database in 2017, over 4,516 clinical trials were active in the U.S. These clinical trials included over 920,000 participants. Thus, rising investments in drug discovery and development along with increasing number of clinical trials to develop novel therapeutics for a host of chronic diseases highlights the potential requirement for liquid handling systems used in clinical research.
 

Clinical advantages offered by automated liquid handling systems is expected to drive the preference for these systems

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The liquid handling systems market for automated segment exceeded USD 797 million in 2020. Automated liquid handling systems offer clinical advantages during the handling of critical, reactive or volatile liquids. The systems are programmed to deliver precise and reliable clinical outcomes using automated software and provide self-operational capabilities to certain extent. Automated workstations caters to diverse applications, along with the freedom to personalize the workstations based on specific requirements. Automated fluid handling systems reduce the number of errors, shorten hands-on time, and promote throughput along with reproducibility. Featuring high flexibility, improved capacity, dynamic volume range and high standards related to manufacturing quality, the automated liquid handlers are anticipated to positively influence the liquid handling systems market expansion.
 

Factors such as cost-effective performance and minimal maintenance are predicted to promote the acceptance of pipettes

The pipettes segment accounted for around 28% of the liquid handling systems market share in 2020 led by the use of pipettes in broad range of applications and ability to handle viable volumes of liquid samples. Cost-effective performance, reliability, high level of accuracy and minimal maintenance are some of the factors promoting the demand for pipettes. Furthermore, development and commercialization of electronic pipettes by several players in the liquid handling systems market is further projected to fuel the usage of these instruments.
 

Increasing demand for development of novel therapeutics and personalized medication is estimated to foster the liquid handling systems market revenue

The drug discovery segment is poised to reach USD 1.71 billion by 2027 owing to soaring demand for development of novel therapeutics and personalized medicine. Advancements in science and technology have led to transition in conventional therapeutics and promoted the adoption & demand for personalized medicine based on patient’s molecular profile and genetic makeup. Personalized medicines potentially provide faster diagnosis, effective treatment with fewer ill effects. Growing number of drug discovery projects are set to soar the demand for fluid handling systems as these systems form an indispensable part of drug discovery process, especially in screening of millions of compounds. Increased throughput, consistency and reliability and streamlining screening operations with acceptance of advanced liquid handling instruments ensures accuracy thereby driving product usage.
 

Growing adoption of liquid handling systems in research laboratories and academic institutes is slated to spur the market value

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The research and academic institutes segment in the liquid handling systems market captured USD 898 million in 2020 impelled by the rising acceptance of liquid handling instruments in research laboratories and increasing research volume. Liquid handling systems plays an anchoring role in research and academic laboratories in research areas such as protein crystallization, gene sequencing, antibody testing, and drug screening. These instruments are used in a host of critical tasks in research and development activities for transferring assays in different containers. In addition, significant contribution of research activities at academic institutes is further set to surge the product acceptance rate.
 

High number of ongoing R&D projects and accessibility to technologically advanced products in the North America region will to stimulate the regional growth

U.S. dominated the North America liquid handling systems market in 2020 and is slated to cross USD 1.48 billion by 2027 on account of the presence of major biopharmaceutical firms in the country, high number of ongoing R&D projects and accessibility to technologically advanced products. According to the research survey conducted by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), over 7,000 drugs are in development phase and these drugs correspond to more than 9,500 ongoing projects in clinical development. Moreover, as of 2017, the investment in clinical trials related to drug development research accounted for over USD 15 billion at multiple clinical trial sites across the country. Financial support offered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also contribute to the growth in research activities. Additionally, major biopharmaceutical players using collaborative research approach to accelerate the R&D activities is further expected to increase the demand for liquid handling instruments.
 

Germany liquid handling systems market is predicted to witness 6% growth rate through 2027. The high revenue share is attributable to strong presence of biopharmaceutical organizations, academic & research institutions and clinical research organizations (CROs) leading to extensive R&D activities in the country. Furthermore, as per the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, more than USD 110 billion was invested in activities associated with R&D in 2018. Significant proportion of this funding is allotted to projects in universities, non-university research institutions and government research labs in the field on biopharmaceuticals. The growing investments and R&D activities in the country will to augment the demand for liquid handling instruments used in research labs, academic institutions and biopharmaceutical industry.
 

Strategies implemented by major industry players are expected to generate business opportunities in the market

Some of the major companies operating in the liquid handling systems market are Tecan Group Ltd., Hamilton Co., Eppendorf AG, Gilson Incorporated, Danaher Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Sartorius AG, Aurora Biomed, Inc. and Agilent Technologies, Inc. among others. Major participants are adopting strategic formulations such as forward integration, new product development, geographical expansion and research collaborations in order to garner maximum revenue share and promote company growth.
 

Recent liquid handling systems market developments:

• In April 2020, Thermo Fischer Scientific and Hamilton Co. launched the ID NIMBUS Presto workstation by integrating Hamilton's liquid handling expertise and Thermo Fisher Scientific's nucleic acid purification strategy. This strategic collaboration helped the company to gain competitive edge and bolster its industrial position.
   
• In Jan 2019, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences (part of Danaher Corporation) announced the acquisition of Labcyte, a company engaged in offering acoustic liquid handling solutions. This acquisition strengthened company’s existing range of liquid handling products and complemented Labcyte's unique product portfolio, thereby offered new opportunities to design highly effective solutions for liquid handling workflows.
   

Liquid handling systems market research report includes an in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD from 2016 to 2027, for the following segments:

Market, By Device type, 2016 - 2027 (USD Million)

• Manual
• Electronic
• Automated

Market, By Product, 2016 - 2027 (USD Million)

• Pipettes
  • Manual pipettes
  • Electronic pipettes 
• Dispensers
• Burettes
• Automated Workstations
• Microplate Readers
• Consumables
• Others

Market, By Application, 2016 - 2027 (USD Million)

• Drug Discovery
• Clinical Diagnostics
• Cancer and Genomics Research
• Others

Market, By End-use, 2016 - 2027 (USD Million)

• Diagnostic Centers
• Research and Academic Institutes
• Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Industry
• Others

The above information is provided for the following regions and countries:

• North America
  • U.S.
  • Canada
• Europe
  • Germany
  • France
  • UK
  • Spain
  • Italy
• Asia Pacific
  • China
  • Japan
  • India
  • Australia
  • South Korea 
• Latin America
  • Brazil
  • Mexico
  • Argentina 
• Middle East & Africa
  • South Africa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE