A new report from visiongain, a London-based business information provider, predicts the global biomarkers market will be worth $19.86 billion in 2015.

The market generated $14.18 billion in 2010, according to the just published Biomarkers: Technological and Commercial Outlook 2011-2021.

A biomarker can be defined as a factor that can be measured with precision and that reflects a normal biological process or a therapeutic response. Biomarkers have great utility in the pharmaceutical industry as they can be used to deduce the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships of therapies as well as help in the determination of drug efficacy. This market has significant potential for growth because the utility of biomarkers spans all therapeutic areas and their use directly affects our ability to diagnose and monitor disease progression.

"Accurate non-invasive methods for monitoring and quantifying the concentrations of biomarkers are vital for the early diagnosis of disease,” according to the report analyst. “At present, there is significant research activity in the discovery of novel biomarkers for a range of diseases. Over the course of the decade, the emphasis will gradually shift from biomarker discovery to biomarker validation. A key market driver will be patient stratification, especially for therapeutic areas such as oncology, where the disease is highly heterogeneous."

Visiongain said the world biomarkers market will benefit from the manufacture of non-invasive methods for imaging biomarkers. The fields of genomics and proteomics will lead to new insights about disease mechanisms and facilitate the discovery of biomarkers.

Visiongain predicted this market will grow steadily to 2021. As the field of biomarker research matures, patient stratification will become routine.

Visiongain is an independent media company, producing a host of business-2-business conferences, newsletters, management reports and e-zines focusing on the pharmaceutical, telecom, energy, defense and materials sectors. It publishes reports produced by its in-house analysts.