Biotechnology Research Roadmap - Science and Innovation

2.3 Future outlook 15 • cleaner, more efficient biofuels;
Recent and continuing advances in the life sciences
have led to an oft-cited assertion that the 21st Century
will be the “biotechnology century”. 16
A wide range of biotechnology R&D activities are
maturing at a rapid pace. Over the next twenty years
these are projected to significantly affect the healthcare
and primary production sectors and contribute to more
sustainable manufacturing processes and industrial
products.
Outcomes predicted include:
• healthcare technologies drawing on genetics,
genomics, and proteomics that promise better,
more personalised health outcomes;
• regenerative cell therapies fuelled by advances in
stem cell research;
• more sustainable and value-added food and fibre
production systems;
• enzymatic processing in manufacturing that cuts
energy and water consumption and the generation
of toxic wastes; and
• the production of novel biomaterials for medical
and industrial purposes. 17
Emerging biotechnology developments are being
influenced by a range of drivers. These include:
• demographic trends such as longer life
expectancies (especially in developed countries),
decreased fertility and delayed reproduction, and
increased consumer demand for the medical
“treatment” of non-pathological “disorders”; and
• sustainability drivers spurred by the need to
respond to issues like climate change and fossil fuel
dependency.
2.4 Market trends
Each of the key biotechnology sectors – health,
agricultural and industrial biotechnology
– are currently all at differing stages of maturity.
As a result, areas such as the commercialisation of
biopharmaceuticals have a clear pathway to market,
whereas routes to market are less well characterised for
industrial and environmental biotechnology because
of their earlier stage of development.
2.4.1 Health biotechnology
The most mature global biotechnology market is
currently the healthcare sector. In fact, growth in this
market has underpinned the sustained growth of the
whole global biotechnology industry to date.
Ninety percent of current global value from
biotechnology is derived from biopharmaceuticals
alone and the vast majority of biotechnology firms are
working across this broad field. Fifteen percent of all
drugs are currently based on biotechnology and this is
projected to grow to 40 percent by 2010.
To add weight to this projection, more than 30 percent
of drugs currently in development are biological. 18
Beyond the projected biological drug “pipeline”,
rapid advances in both stem cell research and
the neurosciences are driving developments in
regenerative medicine. There is still, however,
much basic research to be performed to understand
the underlying biology of areas such as stem cell
science, not to mention many ethical issues which are
accompanying developments.
15
For a more in-depth summary of future biotechnology issues and trends see: MoRST (2005), Futurewatch: Biotechnologies to 2025: http://www.morst.govt.nz/currentwork/futurewatch/biotechnologies-to-2025/
16
Rifkin, J (1998), The Biotech Century
17
OECD (2005), The Bioeconomy in 2030
18
OECD (2004), The Economic Impacts of Biotechnology – An Introduction – Working paper of National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators, DSTI/EAS/STP/
NETI(2004), p.6
Roadmaps for Science : biotechnology research
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