Drug Discovery Informatics Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Drug Discovery Informatics Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Drug Discovery Informatics Market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 10.6% during the forecast period, 2022-2027.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the health systems of countries have been heavily investing in research and development to combat the virus. Research groups across the world have set about identifying small molecule drugs for the treatment of COVID-19. Thus, in view of the ongoing pandemic, the drug discovery of drugs increases, thereby rising demand for the drug discovery bioinformatics market. According to the study titled "A critical overview of computational approaches employed for COVID-19 drug discovery" in the Journal of Chemical Society Review in August 2021, much of the research focused on the discovery of novel drug candidates or repurposing of existing drugs against COVID-19. Researchers posit that truly impactful computational tools must deliver actionable, experimentally testable hypotheses enabling the discovery of novel drugs and drug combinations and that open science and rapid sharing of research results are critical to accelerating the development of novel, much-needed therapeutics for COVID-19. Thus, the drug discovery information market was significantly impacted by COVID-19.

Factors driving the market growth include high R&D expenditure by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for drug discovery and development and increasing technological advancement in data mining and analytics. According to the 2021 Annual report of Novartis, Novartis invested approximately USD 59 million in neglected disease research and development in 2021, as defined by the Access to Medicine Foundation as R&D priority areas. As a result of this investment, many diseases previously regarded as deadly are now manageable and even curable, and this trend is expected to continue, which will drive the growth of the studied market in the country. Additionally, according to Congressional Budget Office, in April 2021, the pharmaceutical sector spent USD 83 billion on research and development in 2019. Inflation-adjusted, that sum is around ten times what the industry spent every year in the 1980s. Rising investment in research and development will, in turn, increase the need for toxicology screening services, thereby propelling the growth of the market.

However, various small and medium pharma raised the funding for drug discovery and development anticipated to boost the market. For instance, in March 2022, ArrePath, a drug discovery startup, raised USD 20 million in a seed funding round led by the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Insight Partners, and Innospark Ventures. The investment will be used to support the company's machine learning-based drug discovery platform, which focuses on developing new types of anti-infective drugs to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Moreover, increasing technological advancement in drug discovery platforms is expected to grow the market over the forecast period. For instance, in October 2021, PyTorch released a machine learning drug discovery platform, TorchDrug, to accelerate drug discovery research. This library is open-sourced and can be installed through PIP if you have PyTorch and torch-scatter installed.

Thus, all the aforementioned factors are anticipated to boost the market. However, high pricing and setup costs for informatics software are expected to restrain the market’s growth during the forecast period.

Key Market TrendsPharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies Segment is Expected to Witness Growth Over the Forecast Period

Pharmaceutical companies are heavily relying on this informatics software for pre-clinical research and development, target identification, compound screening, and lead identification, as well as streamlining their drug discovery process, which is a major factor driving this segment's growth. Informatics analysis in drug discovery not only accelerates drug target identification and drug candidate screening and refinement but also facilitates the characterization of side effects and predicts drug resistance. Researchers and the pharmaceutical industry can use data mining software for drug discovery to gain access to all relevant and up-to-date data generated by the scientific community.

However, product launches by pharmaceutical companies are anticipated to grow the segment over the forecast period. For instance, in December 2020, Curve Therapeutics Ltd. used the CDD Vault platform to manage its platform, which is genetically encoded. It's a cloud-based platform suitable for pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications, allowing for the secure and seamless sharing of data in real-time and for collaborative discoveries.

Various strategies are adopted by pharma players to bolster the use of drug discovery informatics in drug discovery, drug design, and drug development. For instance, in April 2022, Iktos, a company specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for new drug design, and Teijin Pharma Limited, the core company of the Teijin Group’s healthcare business that provides comprehensive healthcare services to improve the quality of life, reported a strategic collaboration agreement in Artificial Intelligence for small molecules drug discovery.

Similarly, in January 2022, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Fosun Pharma), a China-based healthcare group, and Insilico Medicine, a US-based artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery and development company, entered into a collaboration agreement to advance the discovery and development of drugs targeting a number of different targets globally using AI technology.

Thus, all the aforementioned factors are expected to boost the segment’s growth over the forecast period.

North America is Expected to Dominate the Drug Discovery Market

North America is expected to dominate the overall market throughout the forecast period. In the North American region, the United States holds the largest market share, and this is due to the increasing R&D on drug discovery and technological advancements in data mining and analytics. This has helped the growth of the drug discovery informatics market in the country.

According to a report published in September 2021 by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), in the last decade, biopharmaceutical companies invested more than a trillion dollars in research and development, including a record-breaking year in 2020 where PhRMA member companies invested about USD 91 billion in the research and development.

Furthermore, the global acceleration of Covid-19 drug discovery is adding to the market's growth. Similarly, companies are developing a variety of web services and solutions to aid in the development of Covid-19 at various stages. For Instance, in June 2020, the IBM visual molecular explorer platform investigated a subset of the generated coronavirus-targeting molecules (SARS-CoV-2). The explorer's open-source sharing of AI-generated artifacts aided in the early stages of optimal medicine design.

In addition, companies in the region are concentrating their efforts on joint ventures and research collaborations, which will help the market grow in the coming years. In December 2020, Atomwise, one of the leaders in using artificial intelligence (AI) for small-molecule drug discovery, unveiled its growing portfolio of an emerging joint venture with A2i therapeutics, FutuRx companies with research programs spanning oncology, immunology, infectious disease, neuroscience, and clotting disorders. Thus, research collaboration for drug discovery creates significant demand for drug discovery informatics anticipated to boost the market.

Thus, all aforementioned factors are anticipated to boost the market growth over the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The drug discovery informatics market is competitive and consists of a few major players. In terms of market share, these major players currently dominate the market. Key players are increasingly collaborating with other companies, research institutes, and clinical research organizations to promote rapid drug development. Some of the major players in the market are Infosys, IBM, and PerkinElmer, Io informatics, among others.

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