Forecasting 2002: Bioinformatics: BOOM YEARS
Thursday, December 27, 2001
By Laura Sivitz,
Washington Techway Staff Writer
The bioinformatics industry finished 2001 on an upbeat note, and 2002 looks even rosier. "We're just about to enter the boom years," says David Sebring, director of corporate and government relations for the Virginia Biotechnology Institute. Worldwide sales will top $2 billion next year, according to Brad Peters, a senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan in San Antonio. Of the American cities hosting the most growth, he says, "[Washington] D.C. is a big
one."
The drive to perform drug discovery faster and less expensively will reward those companies whose products get scientists closest to results. Bioinformatics will help narrow the number of hypotheses to test on the lab bench by bringing together more data from more sources and providing better tools to integrate it, analyze it and apply it to experimental designs.
Some early-stage startups may struggle for venture funding and get gobbled up by the industry leaders. But a spurt in biodefense spending should support others. In particular, the FBI and the Defense Department will pay for tools to trace a biological agent's genetic lineage back to its source. The biological threat also will stimulate growth at companies that make hardware like gene chips for bioweapon-detection devices.
Established bioinformatics businesses anticipate revenue growth from spending by both the private and public sectors. While software and services will flourish best in 2002, content - genomic and proteomic information - will grow too. The Defense Department's need to understand the genomes and proteomes of likely bioweapons will fuel the content business. But the ballooning body of free information on the Web will continue challenging content-providers to offer added value to their customers. |
