Compound Management Market Size, Share, and Industry Analysis By Type (Automated and Manual), By Application (Drug Discovery, Data Management, Compound Tracking, and Others), By End-user (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Industries, CROs & CDMOs, Academic & Research Institutes, and Others), and Regional Forecast till 2032

The global compound management market has been growing phenomenally under the impetus of a surge in demand for efficient chemical library management for pharmaceutical research. Compound management is the systematic storage, retrieval, tracking, and quality control of chemical compounds used in drug discovery, ensuring the integrity and easy access of data across research applications.

• In 2023, 870 pharmaceutical libraries manage compound samples across the U.S., as characterized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which justifies the magnitude and relevancy of organized compound repositories.

Automated storage systems, along with inventory software, are now increasingly popular, especially in high-throughput screening laboratories, for the purpose of increased access to compounds while enhancing productivity in the early phases of drug development.

Compound Management Market Driver

Drug Discovery Drives Compound Management Market Growth

Drug discovery is one of the main demands driving the growth of the compound management market, and the new reports show that Canada conducted 91,000 compound screening assays in the year 2023, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. These trends have been driving the demand for storage and retrieval systems in very advanced automations that would enable the third-party service providers to cost-effectively deliver technology-based solutions.

Compound Management Market Restraint

High Costs, Training, And Regulations Limit Growth

Limitations of the compound management market are determined widely due to implementation costs; that is why smaller companies say it will be very difficult for them to best of their abilities, put money into hardware, software, and human resources. Apart from the given issue of untrained professionals who coped with the barrier in handling fully automated platforms, other issues, such as compound storage and handling, require regulatory compliance assumptions.

Compound Management Market Opportunity

Emerging Markets Drive Compound Management Growth

Emerging markets grow at an astonishing rate, especially considering rapid growth in the pharmaceutical sector. The opportunities in these terms are large due to the increase in research and development initiatives, coupled with government support. Compound management systems integrating artificial intelligence would serve to interpret data better and fine-tune workflow processes. On the other hand, biobanking is becoming more common to provide new concepts for developing tailored compound management systems specific to the preservation of biological samples.

Segmentation

Key Insights

The report covers the following key insights:

• Key Drivers: Drug discovery, automation, AI
• Restraints: High costs, labor shortage, regulations
• Regional Insights: North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific growth
• Key Developments: Beckman Coulter, Evotec, Hamilton
• Opportunities: Emerging markets, biobanking, AI

Analysis by Type

By type, the market is divided into automated and manual.

With the capacity to improve throughput, accuracy, and reproducibility in dealing with large compound libraries, the automated segment is said to be the most dominant segment in the compound management market. The growth of this segment is driven by increased adoption in pharmaceutical research of robotics, automated liquid handling, and storage systems.

The manual section, expected to show significant growth, continues to serve small laboratories and academic research where automation may not be available. However, the growth of this segment is expected to be comparatively slower than the automated section due to the inadequacies associated with human error and limitations on scale.

Analysis by Application

By application, the market is divided into drug discovery, data management, compound tracking, and others.

The drug discovery segment dominates the market owing to the high demand for efficient storage and retrieval systems in high-throughput screening and compound screening processes. The increasing product pipeline for pharmaceuticals and rising investment in R&D are also aiding factors in increasing the demand in this segment.

In the future, the data management segment is expected to grow significantly with the expansion of compound libraries, which calls for sophisticated software for inventory tracking, chemical registration, and data integration. Enhanced informatics tools are increasingly being integrated within compound management systems to facilitate workflow efficiency.

The compound tracking segment, similarly, shows considerable growth potential as a result of traceability and quality control demand in compound storage and distribution. Efficient tracking systems help curb compound degradation and comply with regulatory standards.

Analysis by End-user

By end-user, the market is divided into pharmaceutical & biotechnology industries, CROs & CDMOs, academic & research institutes, and others.

The market is dominated by the pharmaceutical & biotechnology industries segment due to large investments made in R&D and an increased demand for advanced compound management infrastructure to support drug development pipelines. These industries remain the primary HTS users of these large automated compound libraries.

The CROs & CDMOs segment is anticipated to witness fast growth as stakeholders compare outsourcing needs. Specialized services offered by these organizations prepare the field for the pharmaceutical client to save costs and improve their operational efficiency.

Regional Analysis

Based on geography, the market has been studied across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.

To gain extensive insights into the market, Download for Customization

North America is likely to emerge as the leader in compound management in the future, owing to its pharmaceutical sector and the presence of the best leading contract research organizations. The adoption of automation and software integration in compound storage and tracking is proven to be very early across this region. This will also continue to support efficiency, scalability throughout the drug development workflow and regulatory compliance.

The gradual growth being experienced in Europe in the compound management market is a result of substantial R&D investments made by the pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The supportive regulatory frameworks towards improving drug discovery processes also further contribute to the development of the region. Thus, there is a potential for Europe to be a top revenue contributor to the global market in the next couple of years.

The Asia-Pacific region is estimated to exhibit the highest growth rate in the compound management industry due to fast-developing pharmaceutical industries in China and India. Due to government initiatives and growing funding for life sciences research, infrastructure and capacity are developing. This dynamic environment is posing great opportunities for the market players across the region.

Key Players Covered

The report includes the profiles of the following key players:

• Hamilton Company (U.S.)
• Azenta US Inc. (U.S.)
• Beckman Coulter, Inc. (U.S.)
• Biosero, Inc. (U.S.)
• Tecan Trading AG (Switzerland)
• Wuxi AppTec (China)
• Frontier Scientific Inc. (U.S.)

Key Industry Developments

• In January 2019, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences completed the acquisition of Labcyte with a specific goal to add laboratory automation to its portfolio. It is therefore expected that the Labcyte acquisition will build on Beckman Coulter's capabilities in the management of compounds with high precision and no touch. This acquisition was undoubtedly a great milestone in efficient and high-throughput automation in pharmaceutical research.
• In January 2020, Evotec signed a strategic partnership agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, with the intent to hasten drug discovery and development processes. This partnership focused on the advanced compound management infrastructure and screening technologies that Evotec was able to make available. It was also going to accelerate the development of several medicines for different therapeutic areas.
• In March 2021, Hamilton Company had earlier launched the Verso Q-Series in March 2021, another next-generation automated sample storage system. This storage system was to offer a hundred percent improvement in reliability and throughput for compound management processes under laboratory conditions. This launch served to tackle the growing demand in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors for flexible and high-density storage.