Industry status and development trend
（1）Development status of global biological laboratory consumables Biological science is a natural science specialized in the study of life phenomena and activity rules, which is closely related to the survival and development of human beings. Modern biotechnology has brought good prospects and well-being to human beings. Global environmental protection, development and utilization of biological resources, human health and disease prevention, human reproduction and improvement of human clothing, food, housing and transportation are all closely related to biotechnology. According to “China biotechnology Development Report”, biotechnology has become the focus of scientific and technological competition in the world, and biological economy will become one of the fastest growing economic fields in the 21st century. Many countries have taken biotechnology and industrial development as a national strategy and identified it as a priority area of economic and scientific development in the 21st century. They have continuously increased their input and accelerated their efforts to seize the commanding heights of the bioeconomy. Thanks to the prosperity and development of downstream industry, the global demand for disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories will maintain high growth in the future.
According to Sullivan, the global market size of disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories reached 11.01 billion US dollars in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.3% from 2014 to 2018. It is expected to grow from 2018 to us $13.75 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5%.
Life science research and related industries in Developed countries in Europe and the United States have a history of more than one hundred years of development, so the main market demand of disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories in the world is mainly in Europe and the United States. The Asia Pacific region, especially represented by China, India and Singapore, has witnessed rapid growth and great potential in the market for disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories with the continuous growth of new investment in the biotechnology industry.
From the perspective of market supply, internationally renowned comprehensive service providers of biological laboratory supplies are mainly concentrated in the United States, Germany and other European and American developed countries. Multinational companies, such as Corning, Thermo Fisher, VWR, GE Healthcare, Merck KGaA, Sarstedt and Eppendorf, have long dominated the global supply of disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories with their strong r&d and brand advantages.
(2) Market scale of biological laboratory consumables in China Compared with European and American countries, the research in the field of life science in China started late, and disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories in China only account for a small part of the global market share. However, the Chinese market is gradually becoming an emerging market for disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories due to its huge population base and rapidly growing demand for biomedicines. In the next few years, disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories in China will show explosive growth. According to Sullivan’s statistical forecast, China’s disposable plastic consumables market for biological laboratories grew from 4.28 billion YUAN in 2014 to 7.57 billion yuan in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 15.3%. It is estimated that the market size of disposable plastic consumables for Biological laboratories in China will reach 15.08 billion YUAN in 2023.
(3) Market supply of biological laboratory consumables in China China’s biological laboratory disposable plastic supplies suppliers at the beginning of the majority of traders, the vast majority of biological laboratory disposable plastic supplies rely on imports. With the rapid development of China’s economy and the flourishing of life technology industry, professional laboratory supplies suppliers emerge at the historic moment. Domestic life science experiment consumables manufacturers are mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta and pearl River Delta. In the early stage of development, most of them have small production scale, rough production process, poor independent research and development ability, uneven product quality and low industry concentration. In recent years, China’s biological laboratory of disposable plastic material supplier for a handful of enterprise product quality reach the international advanced level, the development trend of they comply with the international level of consumables, enhance research and development with independent design ability, gradually strengthen market and customer requirements traceability, some companies have been relying on their own brands and international brands to compete.
2.Industrial technology development
(1) Polymer material modification and processing and other interdisciplinary technologies are widely used to improve and enhance the performance of disposable plastic consumables in biological laboratories
Disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratories are mainly used for cell culture and harvest, pipetting of biological experiments, solution filtration and separation, storage, etc., which are widely used in biomedical, clinical, inspection and quarantine, scientific research and other fields. The physical and chemical properties and biological properties of the products as well as the accuracy of the products directly affect the success or failure and efficiency of biotechnology research and application. Disposable plastic laboratory consumables are mainly made of polymer materials, so the modification and processing technology of polymer materials is the key technology in this industry.
Polymer material modification technology can make disposable plastic consumables of biological laboratory have some specific properties in different application scenarios. For example, cell culture plate, bottle, dish and other utensils as the space and culture surface of cell growth and reproduction, need to meet the special requirements of different types of cell growth surface. Some biological experimental reagents are expensive. In biological experiments, the suction head and pipette of the reagent should have strong hydrophobic properties to avoid liquid residue, ensure accurate absorption and reduce experimental costs. Raw materials for centrifugal equipment need super toughness to ensure that they do not deform or break under high centrifugal force. The processing technology of polymer materials is mainly embodied in the design, operation and maintenance of process, equipment and mold. The precision of injection molding and extrusion molding determines the product quality and production efficiency of the production link.
The international developed countries in Europe and the United States have invested in the above technologies for a long time, and the key core technologies and manufacturing technologies are at the leading level in the world. Life science research in China started relatively late relative to the European and American countries, in recent years, the biological laboratory disposable plastic material production enterprises in our country continue to increase spending on research and development with technology innovation, technology innovation and the improvement of production management, some leading domestic enterprises gradually break the European and American famous enterprises technological monopoly, related products reached the international advanced level in terms of technology and quality.
(2) The application of biological laboratory consumables in biomedical industry Cell culture technology is one of the key technologies in biomedical industry. At present, in vitro animal cell culture can produce monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, cytokines, enzyme preparations, diagnostic reagents, genetic engineering drugs, cell drugs and other biological drugs and biological products. For example, Part III of pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China clearly stipulates that recombinant CHO cells (Chinese hamster ovary cells) and recombinant yeast animal cells, as well as primary cells, human diploid cells, Vero cell culture and chicken embryo cell culture can be used in the production process of 27 kinds of viral vaccines. A large number of biomedical products, such as immunoglobulin G, A and M, urokinase, human growth hormone and hepatitis B surface antigen, were obtained by animal cell culture. In the field of diagnostic reagents, the production of various monoclonal antibodies by large-scale cell culture system is an economical and reliable method. In the field of clinical cell therapy, stem cells, autologous and allogeneic immune cells are directly cultured in vitro and then imported into human body as cell drugs.
Disposable plastic consumables for biological laboratory are the tools for the research and application of cell culture technology and are widely used in biomedical industry. Cell culture plate, bottle, provide cell growth space of breeding and cultivation of plating surface, centrifuge tube, filter used in cell culture after the functions such as product separation and purification of the operation, the cryopreserved tubes used in cell and strain preservation, liquid transfer pipette used in cell culture processes, trace suction, enzyme label plate, PCR reaction tube and other products for immunology, molecular biology detection tools.
(3) Technology iteration and replacement
- Iteration of materials Polystyrene, polypropylene and fiber membrane materials are still the main raw materials for preparing consumables such as cell culture devices, centrifugal tubes, pipettes and filters. As the biological technology application scenario is extended, in the field of biological medicine and medical health products intended use and application of environmental change, corresponding to the product of the physical and chemical properties, biological properties and so on are put forward higher requirements, product raw materials from the common polymer materials gradually turned to the level of medical polymer materials, biodegradable materials, such as higher biological safety standards in the direction of evolution.
- Iteration of product device Some traditional laboratory consumables, such as plates, bottles and dishes for ordinary cell culture, still have application needs, and their product structure, realization form and function still remain at the current level. The application expansion of cell culture in the field of biomedicine has put forward higher requirements for cell culture technology and promoted the material modification and device upgrading of cell culture tools.
- Iteration of machining technology The production and processing technology of disposable plastic consumables in biological laboratory, such as injection molding, extrusion, welding, packaging, etc., is relatively stable and will remain the mainstream technology for a long time in the future. The direction of further development will be how to further improve the level of automation and precision of equipment, release labor and improve product quality.
