Description

The phenomenon of RNA interference (RNAi) has rapidly evolved into a powerful technique to silence gene expression in eukaryotic cells. From an evolutionary perspective, RNAi helps protect cells from viruses and transposable genetic elements in addition to carrying out more routine cellular tasks essential to development and growth. Much of the technique's popularity is because it allows researchers to study the molecular effects of modulating expression at the level of individual genes. This amazing degree of precision can now be accomplished without the tedious and time-consuming efforts previously dedicated to the construction of single gene knock-outs or dominant negative expressing cell lines. The diversity of its applications has quickly made RNAi an indispensable tool for both academic and industrial scientists interested in gene function characterization, signaling pathway analysis and target validation. To ensure the continued adoption of RNAi approaches in the laboratory, The Market for RNA Interference Products: Challenges and Opportunities provides life science suppliers with insights into the types of products and services required to support this research. Looking at the entire market potential, this report not only reflects the experiences and opinions of 520 scientists who currently use small interfering RNA (siRNA) but also over 360 scientists who plan to use siRNA within the next year. It provides an in-depth look at RNAi experimental design, including model systems, siRNA duplex design, transfection techniques as well as current and future levels of throughput. This report also closely examines pre-designed, validated and library siRNA duplexes, chemically synthesized custom siRNAs and transfection reagents from the customer's perspective. It determines their level of satisfaction with various attributes for each type of product and the perceived value given the prices paid. Additionally, this report details the competitive dynamics and opportunities in this exciting segment of the life science market. Respondents reveal the supplier attributes that are of greatest importance, and detail areas where suppliers perform above or below expectations. For the leading RNAi suppliers, this analysis goes a step further by assessing less tangible, but critically important, elements of customer value including attitudinal measurements such as overall customer experience, intent to re-purchase and willingness to recommend as well as behavioral measurements such as frequency of purchases and customer retention. By using this report to understand the preferences, needs and expectations of researchers, life science suppliers will be able to make refinements to existing tools as well as to design new tools that support this technology. A combination of enhancements and innovations will extend the use of RNAi into additional laboratories and toward novel applications The Market for RNA Interference Products contains over 60 charts and/or tables and more than 25 cross-tabulations for the 35 survey questions. After Question 1, the respondents were directed to a subset of questions in the survey that best reflected their experience with siRNA. The 520 respondents who currently employ siRNA in their research completed all relevant questions, while 368 respondents who plan to use siRNA only answered Questions 2, 3, 34 and 35. Below is a glimpse of the key findings derived from just a few of the survey questions: • The primary research objective for most RNAi experiments is to assign gene function-cited by 40% of respondents. (Question 2) • Nearly half of RNAi researchers use Web-based tools from commercial suppliers-most frequently Ambion-to design the siRNA duplexes used in their labs. (Question 4) • On a 7-point scale, where 7=very satisfied and 1=very dissatisfied, researchers averaged a 4.74 in their satisfaction with the number of duplexes needed to evaluate each target molecule they want to inhibit. (Question 9) • Of the 51% of respondents that expect the number of RNAi experiments conducted in their lab to increase over the next year, more than half expect an increase of 50% or more. (Question 12) • Ambion, Dharmacon, Invitrogen and Qiagen were most frequently cited as suppliers of RNAi products used in the past 12 months (Question 24) • Scientists tend to have extremely high expectations (a 7 on a 7-point scale) of their RNAi supplier's product delivery and quality control with relatively lower expectations of sales support and online ordering. (Question 26) (electronic copy includes 1 print copy)

Table of Contents

Section 1. Analysis and Interpretation of Survey Results Introduction Market Profile: Uses & Applications 1-5 Current Users and Projected Growth Trends 1-6 Market Profile 1-7 Current RNAi Customer Profile Product Performance 1-10 Pre-Designed, Validated, or Library siRNA Duplexes 1-13 Chemically Synthesized Custom siRNAs 1-16 Transfection Reagents 1-19 RNAi Products siRNA Supplier Performance 1-21 Assessment of Supplier Attributes Competitive Dynamics 1-25 Leading Suppliers of RNAi Products 1-28 Measuring Customer Value 1-31 Brand Associations 1-32 Visualizing the Market for RNAi Products 1-34 Competitor Table of the RNAi Products Market Future Directions 1-37 Future RNAi Customer Profile 1-39 What Scientists Want 1-40 Key Areas for Product Development 1-41 Trends in the RNAi Field 1-42 Summary Conclusion Section 2. Study Methodology and Demographics 2-1 Methodology 2-4 Understanding Quadrant Analysis 2-5 Understanding Performance-Expectation Gap Analysis 2-7 Definition of Terms 2-8 Demographics 2-9 Questionnaire Section 3. Presentation of Survey Data 3-2 Use of siRNA in research RNAI EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN (RESPONDENTS = 520) 3-6 Primary research objective for RNAi experiments* 3-8 Model system primarily employed for RNAi experiments* 3-10 Method of designing the siRNA duplexes used 3-13 Preparation/Acquisition of the siRNA reagents needed 3-15 Transfection methods used in RNAi experiments 3-16 Method of verifying the repression grade achieved 3-17 Average number of siRNA duplexes evaluated for each target molecule that researchers want to inhibit 3-18 Satisfaction with the number of duplexes needed to evaluate each target molecule that researchers want to inhibit 3-19 Average number of RNAi experiments performed per month in laboratory 3-20 Definition of a RNAi experiment 3-27 Future number of RNAi experiments conducted in laboratory 3-29 Percentage of siRNA reagents that are prepared/acquired by various methods Pre-designed, Validated or Library siRNA Duplexes (Respondents = 168) 3-30 Primary supplier of pre-designed, validated or library siRNA duplexes 3-32 Satisfaction with specific product features of pre-designed, validated or library duplexes 3-34 Overall satisfaction with the value received for the price paid when purchasing pre-designed, validated or library duplexes Chemically Synthesized Custom siRNAs (Respondents = 193) 3-35 Primary supplier of chemically synthesized custom siRNAs 3-37 Satisfaction with specific product features of chemically synthesized custom siRNA 3-39 Overall satisfaction with the value received for the price paid when purchasing chemically synthesized custom siRNAs Transfection Reagents (Respondents = 328) 3-40 Use of transfection reagents specifically designed for the transfection of siRNA duplexes 3-41 Primary supplier of transcription reagents for RNAi experiments 3-43 Satisfaction with specific product features of transcription reagents 3-45 Overall satisfaction with the value received for the price paid when purchasing transcription reagents Suppliers and Supplier Performance (Respondents = 520) 3-46 Suppliers of RNAi products used in past 12 months 3-48 Importance of specific services based on experience 3-50 Level of expectations that commercial suppliers will deliver specific services 3-52 Performance of suppliers with regards to specific services 3-54 Ranking of overall experiences in obtaining RNAi products from suppliers 3-55 Likelihood to purchase RNAi products again from suppliers in the next 12 months 3-56 Likelihood to recommend RNAi products from suppliers to colleagues 3-57 Approximate number of orders for RNAi products placed with suppliers in the last 12 months 3-58 Length of time purchasing RNAi products from suppliers 3-59 Characteristics most associated with RNAi product suppliers THE FUTURE OF RNAI TECHNOLOGY (RESPONDENTS = 879) 3-60 Most important areas of development to increase the widespread use of siRNA technology Demographics Company Profiles 3-68 Ambion 3-70 Invitrogen 3-72 Dharmacon 3-74 Qiagen