Molecular Farming Market 2024 – Market Size & Segments Analysis, Industry Trends, Manufacturers Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast 2034

Molecular farming is defined as the production of proteins or other metabolites valuable to medicine or industry in plants traditionally used in an agricultural setting. Crop plants can synthesize a wide variety of proteins that are free of mammalian toxins and pathogens. Crop plants produce large amounts of biomass at low cost and require limited facilities. Since plants have long been used as a source of medicinal compounds, molecular farming represents a novel source of molecular medicines, such as plasma proteins, enzymes, growth factors, vaccines, and recombinant antibodies, whose medical applications are understood at a molecular level.

MARKET OVERVIEW

The market valuation of the molecular farming market was valued at approximately USD 1.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 2.6 billion in 2034 exhibiting a CAGR of 7.0% during the forecast period of 2024-2034. Molecular farming is a useful alternative to traditional pharmaceutical development because genetically engineered livestock and plants are relatively inexpensive to produce and maintain. The market is aligned with diverse sectors, which makes it a sustainable and growing market. 

GROWTH DRIVERS

The recent developments and innovations in genetic engineering is one of key driver of the market, as it helps in modifying pant genomes with high precision and also the enables the production of complex proteins and biopharmaceuticals in plants. According to Military Medical Journal, the rapid development of genome editing technology has brought major breakthroughs in the fields of life science and medicine. In recent years, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based genome editing toolbox has been greatly expanded, not only with emerging CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) nucleases, but also novel applications through combination with diverse effectors.

The improvements and advancements in genetic engineering like CRISPR technology drives the adoption due to the increased precision and efficiency. The increase in global demand of biopharmaceuticals like vaccines, antibodies and others drives the market towards growth, where molecular farming is cost-effective as compared to traditional cell culture systems for producing these kinds of high value products. According to National Library of Medicine (PMCID: PMC7754927 and PMID: 33270484), plants have been used for the production of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, immunomodulatory proteins, drugs, and pharmaceuticals via molecular farming/transient expression system and are considered as bioreactors or factories for their bulk production.

These biological products are stable, safe, effective, easily available, and affordable, which drives the adoption of the market for the accessibility to critical drugs and therapies globally. The growing investment and funding from private or public sectors fuels the growth of the market. For instance, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced USD72.9 million awarded to 55 states and territories through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) in August 2023. The grant program provides funding to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops and support specialty crop growers through marketing, education, and research.

The financial support from public or private sectors accelerates the development and innovation supporting the market adoption and growth. The pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on proteins for various purposes such as drug development, diagnostics, and therapeutic applications. Molecular farming offers a cost-effective and scalable method to produce proteins such as antibodies, enzymes, and growth factors. As the demand for these proteins continues to grow, molecular agriculture is becoming an attractive solution to the industry's needs.

MARKET SEGMENTATION:

·         By Product Type- recombinant proteins, vaccines and others

·         By Technique- plant and animal

·         By End-Users- academic and research institutes, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, agricultural companies and others

·         By Region- North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, South America

Molecular Farming Market Segment By Product Type Review:

Recombinant proteins are proteins that are artificially produced using genetic engineering techniques. They have played a significant role in biomedical biotechnology, being used in research and as drugs in the treatment of various diseases. These proteins have undergone advancements over time, with improvements in their structures, properties, and administration routes, resulting in higher efficiency and increased safety. Human proteins are popular targets because the use of proteins isolated from natural sources risks contamination with viruses or prions that are wholly absent from plants. Plants have similar protein synthesis and modification pathways to mammals, so recombinant proteins expressed in plants are generally soluble and functional, which is a significant advantage over microbial expression systems.

However, plants can also be used to produce industrial enzymes, technical proteins used in research, food and feed additives, and biopolymers. Vaccines have long been a crucial tool in public health and disease management, traditionally, vaccines have been made using animal cells, for example, the flu vaccine is made using embryonic chicken eggs. When using plant-based vaccines, however, it only takes around 5 days for the vaccine to be expressed in their host cells, which is much faster. This has obvious advantages in public health responses, as well as in managing the resources it takes to create these vaccines, making them cheaper to produce and thus more widely accessible.

Molecular Farming Market Segment By Organism Review:

Plant molecular farming (PMF) employs plants as bioreactors for the production of pharmaceuticals. Now PMF has been used to produce antibodies, vaccines, and medicinal proteins. Plant molecular farming refers to a plant-based approach to produce recombinant proteins and secondary metabolites. The utilization of plants as a bioreactor for the production of valuable recombinant proteins has shown some unique advantages in comparison to other expression systems. With the high cost and increase in demand for therapeutics and industrial proteins, plant molecular farming has gained interest over the years for its promising low-cost productions at large scales.

Animal based molecular farming involves the genetic engineering of animals in order to produce therapeutic proteins, antibodies, vaccines, and other biological active compounds. This technology utilizes the biological systems of the animals like milk, blood or eggs to express and produce these valuable products. This process generally involves inserting a gene of interest into an animal’s genome so that it produces the desired protein as a part of its natural biological processes.

Molecular Farming Market Segment By End-Users Review:

The academic and research institutes utilize molecule farming for basic and applied research that focuses on the development of new therapeutic proteins vaccines and other biopharmaceuticals they explore the potential of molecular farming in agricultural improvements and environmental sustainability. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are one of the primary commercial users of molecular farming, where these companies use the technology to produce a wide range of biopharmaceuticals such as therapeutic proteins, antibodies, enzymes and vaccines. The agricultural companies utilize molecular farming in order to develop genetically modified plants and animals so that they can produce valuable substances like pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and industrial enzymes.

Molecular Farming Market Regional Analysis:

North America is a significant market driven by factors like the presence of strong research and development infrastructure coupled with the presence of key market players and supported by huge investments by institutions like National Institute of Health, driving the market towards growth. Europe is a valuable market driven by the strong academic and research institutions driving the demand for molecular farming technologies and supportive regulatory environment with the presence of the European Medicines Agency. Asia Pacific is a rapidly growing market driven by the rising healthcare expanding biotech sector coupled with increase in investments. The Middle East and Africa is a promising market driven by the investments in infrastructure including healthcare. South America is another promising market driven by the emerging bio pharmaceutical industry. 

Key Challenges:

The molecular farming in the production of recombinant proteins and other biopharmaceuticals are incident to stringent regulatory requirement where each of the product must undergo rigorous testing and approval processes in order to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and quality of the product. This complexity and variability of plant-based systems adds another layer of scrutiny from regulatory agencies. This kind of lengthy and costly regulatory approval process may delay the market entry of new products and increase and also may increase the development cost.

Competitive Landscape:

In the highly competitive molecular farming market, companies are investing heavily in research and development to innovate and improve their products and services. They are also collaborating, forming strategic partnerships, or acquiring other companies to gain access to new market segments, enhance distribution networks, and increase market share. The news and development include – in July 2021, Nobel Foods, for example, raised USD 100 million after previously successful Series A rounds totaling USD 25 million and a 2017 Series B round totaling USD 75 million. In October 2023, Moolec Science SA's recent joint venture with Group Indus aims to develop low-cost, high-tech molecular agricultural products for the pharmaceutical industry. Due to increasing consumer acceptance and market demand, startups are also focusing on genetically modified tobacco crops for pharmaceutical use.

Global Key Players:

·         Pharming Group NV

·         Medicargo

·         Mapp Biopharmaceutical

·         Miruku

·         Mozza

·         Nobell Foods

·         Corebiogenesis

·         Kbio

·         Orf Genetics

·         Plantform

·         Other Players