Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 17
Economics of Biosensors
Chapter Outline
17.1 Introduction
487
17.2 Market Reports and Trends
488
17.3 Examples of Investment/Financing in Biosensor Companies
500
17.1 Introduction
Biosensor applications have expanded substantially from the initial detection of glucose for
diabetes management. This is owing to the simplicity of and also the simplicity in the use
of the biosensor in different areas. One use that presumably constrains the use of biosensors
in other areas is the lack of economic information available in the open literature on setting
up a biosensor industry and on the pitfalls the potential companies will face, as they attempt
to get into this market. Another factor that, not unexpectedly, plays a very significant role is
the biosensor market that exists, and future trends and predictions in the different areas of
biosensor market growth such as, besides medical applications, the environment, security,
drugs, pathogen detection in food and in air, besides other areas. Until a few years ago, med-
ical applications dominated the biosensor market, but slowly and surely, other areas, espe-
cially the security area is picking up relative to the medical market. It is probably safe to
suggest that the medical area will dominate the biosensor market for the next decade if not
more; however, one should pay attention to other areas too.
This chapter attempts to shed some light and perspective on the biosensor market. As
expected predictions are difficult to make, but this information is useful. There are reports
that are available, but they are expensive (generally cost thousands of dollars), and thanks
to the dynamics of the biosensor market, they lose their value rather quickly. This author
has attempted to provide the economics of biosensors in the last chapter in his previous
topics. In the same vein, this last, perhaps capstone chapter, the economics of biosensors is
again emphasized.
Most, if not all, of the information is gathered from the open literature, and quite reasonably,
one may question the reliability of the information presented. Keeping this caveat in mind,
the next section that follows analyzes market reports and trends. The section after that
