生物标记物现在已经成为诊断领域和疾病研究领域不可或缺的工具，这也促进了这一市场的蓬勃发展。调查显示，到2018年生物标记物市场总额将增长到408亿美元的规模，比2013年增长18.5%。随着检测技术的进步以及对生物标记物研究的重视，新型生物标记物的研发项目越来越多，同时FDA对新型生物标记物开发的支持力度也越来越大。一种好的生物标记物不仅能够及早发现疾病的发生还能够大大减少药物研发的时间和费用。不过，同时这项报告的调查人员也指出未来生物标记物的研究仍会遇到不小的挑战，比如目前研究的低投入产出比限制了投资人的投资热情等。

详细英文报道：

Biomarkers are becoming increasingly useful to doctors as a tool to help diagnose patients earlier, predict the course of disease and tailor more individualized treatment regimens. That value is powering rising demand from both patients and providers, and RnR Market Research predicts that the global biomarkers market will grow to $40.8 billion--a margin of 18.5%--from 2013 to 2018.

Discovery technology advances, an increase in partnerships and collaborations to bolster biomarker research, a boost in government and private sector investments and funds for biomarker discovery, and FDA backing for biomarker development are the driving forces behind that trend, RnR Market Research says in a report.

In particular, the need to screen and detect tumor cells earlier is expected to propel the market for oncology biomarkers, which is projected to grow at the highest rate over the next 5 years. Earlier detection can help eliminate the need for invasive treatments, often needed when cancer is discovered at too late a stage.

Biomarkers also have growing potential to reduce the time span of clinical trials, which can lower the overall cost of the drug discovery and development process.

In the biomarker discovery technology sector, genomics and proteomics technologies have gained a foothold as adoption of those technologies has grown worldwide.

But the forecast report points out that challenges in the market still exist. For one, there's the high capital investment and low benefit-cost ratio associated with biomarkers. The biomarker validation procedure is also burdensome, and sample collection and storage remain barriers to market growth.