Towards Healthcare
Cell Viability Assays Market Surging to USD 2.05 Billion by 2025

Cell Viability Assays Market 2025 North America Leads with 40% Share, APAC to Grow Fastest

Market insights predict, the cell viability assays industry is expected to grow from USD 1.89 billion in 2024 to USD 4.24 billion by 2034, driven by a CAGR of 8.54%. The growing research and development activities and stringent regulatory policies drive the market. The availability of state-of-the-art research and development facilities and favorable government support contribute to North America’s dominance.

Category: Healthcare Services Insight Code: 5859 Format: PDF / PPT / Excel

Cell Viability Assays Market Size, Key Players and Dynamics

The global cell viability assays market size is calculated at USD 1.89 billion in 2024, grew to USD 2.05 billion in 2025, and is projected to reach around USD 4.24 billion by 2034. The market is expanding at a CAGR of 8.54% between 2025 and 2034.

The cell viability assays market is primarily driven by the growing research and development activities and increasing R&D investments. Several regulatory agencies mandate cytotoxicity tests to assess the toxicity profile of drug products. The rising prevalence of cancer, metabolic disorders, and other disorders facilitates market growth. The future looks promising, driven by automation in cell viability assays and the growing demand for personalized medicines.

Cell Viability Assays Market Size 2024 - 2034

Key Takeaways

  • The cell viability assays market will likely exceed USD 1.89 billion by 2024.
  • Valuation is projected to hit USD 4.24 billion by 2034.
  • Estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.54% starting from 2025 to 2034.
  • North America held a major revenue share of 40% of the cell viability assays market in 2024.
  • Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth during the predicted timeframe.
  • By product type, the reagents and kits segment dominated the global market in 2024, with a share of 65%.
  • By product type, the instruments & systems segment is expected to expand rapidly in the market in the coming years.
  • By assay type, the metabolic activity-based assays segment led the global market with a share of 50% in 2024.
  • By application, the pharmaceutical & biotech research segment registered its dominance over the global cell viability assays market in 2024, with a share of 60%.
  • By application, the clinical diagnostics segment is expected to show the fastest growth over the forecast period.
  • By end-use, the pharmaceutical & biotech companies segment accounted for the highest revenue share of the market in 2024, with a share of 55%.
  • By end-use, the contract research organizations (CROs) segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR in the market during the forecast period.
  • By technology, the colorimetric segment held the largest revenue share of 45% of the market in 2024.
  • By technology, the luminescent segment is expected to grow with the highest CAGR in the market during the studied years.

Key Indicators and Highlights

Metric Details
Market Size in 2025 USD 2.05 Billion
Projected Market Size in 2034 USD 4.24 Billion
CAGR (2025 - 2034) 8.54%
Leading Region North America Share by 40%
Market Segmentation By Product Type, By Assay Type, By Application, By End-Use, By Technology, By Region
Top Key Players Thermo Fisher Scientific, Merck KGaA (MilliporeSigma), Bio-Rad Laboratories, PerkinElmer Inc., Promega Corporation, Lonza Group AG, Abcam plc, BD Biosciences, Agilent Technologies, Roche Diagnostics, Takara Bio Inc., GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Enzo Life Sciences, Qiagen N.V., Corning Incorporated, Sigma-Aldrich (part of Merck), Sartorius AG, Tecan Group Ltd., Luminex Corporation, Cellular Technology Limited (CTL)

What are Cell Viability Assays?

The cell viability assays market refers to the global market for analytical techniques and reagents used to assess the health, proliferation, and survival of cells in biological and pharmaceutical research. These assays measure the number of living cells in a sample and are crucial for drug discovery, toxicology studies, cancer research, and other biomedical applications. They provide insights into cellular metabolic activity, membrane integrity, and enzyme function, helping researchers understand cytotoxicity, proliferation, and cellular responses to treatments.

Numerous factors influence market growth, including the rising prevalence of chronic disorders and cancer, as well as growing research and development activities. The burgeoning pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors contribute to market growth. Stringent regulatory policies regarding cytotoxicity test results for new drug compounds are expected to favor market growth. Technological advancements drive the latest innovations in cell viability assays by introducing automation.

  • In December 2024, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences launched the Cydem VT Automated Clone Screening System, a high-throughput microbioreactor platform for automated top clone screening. The system reduces time-to-market for biologic drug discovery and monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics. (Source - News Medical Life Science)
  • In February 2024, ARRALYZE announced the launch of CellShepherd to revolutionize cell-based research and development across biomedical and various life science fields. The device enables miniaturized cell-based assays, enabling real-time monitoring at the single-cell level. (Source - News Medical Life Science)

What is the Role of AI in the Cell Viability Assays Market?

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a vital role in cell viability assays by introducing automation and improving accuracy. It provides real-time monitoring of assays, enabling researchers to make proactive decisions. Live-cell assays generate multiple data points from a single well over time. AI can enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and reproducibility of viability assays, allowing researchers to focus on result interpretation over conducting laborious manual tasks. Additionally, it can assist researchers in data interpretation, avoiding complex calculations. Thus, AI can overcome the significant challenges of conventional assay procedures.

Market Dynamics

Driver

Growing Cancer Research

The major growth factor for the cell viability assays market is the growing field of cancer research. The rising prevalence of cancer and its severity lead to increased cancer research activities. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 1 in 5 people develop cancer in their lifetime, and approximately 1 in 9 men and 1 in 12 women die from cancer. (Source - WHO) Researchers identify novel targets and biomarkers that are involved in disease progression. This enables them to design novel drugs and test those drugs for their cytotoxicity profile.

Restraint

Lack of Qualitative Data

Cell viability assays provide only quantitative data. They are unable to distinguish between different forms of cell death or derive the mechanism of cell death. This leads to insufficient data about cell viability, restricting market growth.

Opportunity

What is the Future of the Cell Viability Assays Market?

The market future is promising, driven by the increasing demand for personalized medicines. Personalized medicines are developed to address rapidly changing demographics and deliver targeted treatment. Advancements in genomics also support the development of personalized medicines. Stem cells, gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies, and recombinant proteins are the most common examples of personalized medicines. Cell viability assays are essential for stem cell research to assess their cell health and proliferation, especially when evaluating treatments or culture conditions. These assays help quantify the number of live cells, providing insights into cell survival, metabolic activity, and potential cytotoxicity.

Segmental Insights

Which Product Type Segment Dominated the Cell Viability Assays Market?

By product type, the reagents and kits segment held a dominant presence in the market in 2024. This segment dominated due to the continuous requirements of reagents and kits for assays. Several companies provide kits and reagents at affordable rates, enabling researchers to meet their research requirements. They are more cost-effective than instruments and do not require specialized infrastructure. They enable researchers to develop accurate and reproducible results.

By product type, the instruments & systems segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR in the market during the forecast period. Instruments provide advanced services and results, and are integral parts of cell viability assays. Technological advancements drive the latest innovations in instruments to derive accurate results. Instruments, such as microplate readers, fluorescence microscopes, flow cytometers, and cell imaging systems, aid in data analysis and interpretation.

Why Did the Metabolic Activity-Based Assays Segment Dominate the Cell Viability Assays Market?

By assay type, the metabolic activity-based assays segment held the largest revenue share of the market in 2024. This is due to the ease of measuring cell metabolites and the simple procedure. Metabolites are directly linked to cellular energy, the generation of cellular building blocks, and signaling pathways. Metabolic activity-based assays help researchers to measure glucose uptake, lactate, glutamine, oxidative stress, and dinucleotide detection assays. These tests assess enzymatic activity as a marker for cell viability. An increase in enzyme activity is an indication of enhanced cell proliferation.

How the Pharmaceutical & Biotech Research Segment Dominated the Cell Viability Assays Market?

By application, the pharmaceutical & biotech research segment contributed the biggest revenue share of the market in 2024. This segment dominated due to the growing research and development activities in the pharma and biotech sectors. New drug discovery and stem cell research necessitate cell-based assays to assess cell cytotoxicity. Cell viability assays are used to evaluate drug safety and efficacy, optimize culture conditions, and screen drug candidates. This enables researchers to identify potential drug candidates before testing on animals. The increasing emphasis of several government organizations on reducing animal testing potentiates the demand for cell viability assays.

By application, the clinical diagnostics segment is expected to grow with the highest CAGR in the market during the studied years. The rising prevalence of chronic disorders and the increasing demand for early disease diagnosis augment the segment’s growth. Cell viability assays are used to determine the health and metabolic state of cells. The growing need for point-of-care diagnostics promotes the use of cell viability assays. These assays offer high specificity and sensitivity in diagnosing several chronic disorders.

Which End-Use Segment Led the Cell Viability Assays Market?

By end-use, the pharmaceutical & biotech companies segment led the global market in 2024. The segmental growth is attributed to favorable infrastructure and suitable capital investments, enabling pharma & biotech companies to perform cell viability assays within their facilities. This also saves cost for indigenously performing assays. These companies mainly focus on developing novel drug candidates to expand their pipeline, necessitating the use of cell viability assays.

By end-use, the contract research organizations (CROs) segment is expected to expand rapidly in the market in the coming years. Numerous large and small-scale pharma companies prefer outsourcing their research activities to CROs due to the presence of skilled professionals and specialized equipment. CROs provide customized solutions to research problems. The increasing collaboration with CROs enables companies to focus primarily on product sales and marketing.

What Made Colorimetric the Dominant Segment in the Cell Viability Assays Market?

By technology, the colorimetric segment held a major revenue share of the market in 2024. The colorimetric method is most widely preferred as it can quantify viable cells easily using a formazan dye. This method accounts for visual changes in assay procedures and cell proliferation. It eliminates the need for using specialized equipment to measure cell viability. It involves the use of a variety of tetrazolium reagents, including XTT, MTT, CCK-8/WST-8, etc. The color intensity of the reagents is analyzed using a UV spectrophotometer.

By technology, the luminescent segment is expected to witness the fastest growth in the market over the forecast period. Luminescence-based assays quantify ATP that signals the presence of metabolically active cells. The amount of ATP present is directly proportional to the number of cells present. This assay is based on the luciferase reaction, which has a half-life of more than five hours. This eliminates the need for constant reagent injectors, providing greater flexibility for reagent procedures.

Regional Analysis

Cell Viability Assays Market Share, By Region, 2024 (%)

Which Factors Govern the Cell Viability Assays Market in North America?

North America dominated the global market share by 40% in 2024. The availability of state-of-the-art research and development facilities, the presence of key players, and favorable government support are the major growth factors of the market in North America. Government organizations provide funding to conduct pharma & biotech research. Research institutions and companies in North America have skilled professionals to perform assays.

U.S. Market Trends

Key players, such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Sigma Aldrich, and Promega Corporation, are the major contributors to the cell viability assays market in the U.S. There are currently 542 research institutions in the U.S. The National Institute of Health (NIH) provides funding for various research activities and is made up of 27 Institutes and Centers, focusing on particular diseases. NIH invests around $48 billion annually.

Canada Market Trends

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) launched the “Drug Discovery Program”, which is one of the largest programs of its kind in Canada. The OICR’s Cancer Therapeutics Innovation Pipeline (CTIP) awards funded $300,000 over 2 years to help advance promising drug discovery research for the development of new cancer drugs.

Burgeoning Pharma & Biotech Sector Promotes Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR in the cell viability assays market during the forecast period. The burgeoning pharmaceutical and biotech sectors and growing research activities bolster market growth. Increasing R&D investments and collaborations among key players facilitate access to advanced technology. Numerous private and public research institutions conduct seminars and workshops at national and international levels to educate and train researchers and students about cell viability assays.

China Market Trends

China is emerging as a global leader in clinical and pharmaceutical research. China led in the total number of drug approvals from 2019 to 2023, with 256 new drug approvals. The Chinese government also provides funding for the development of new drugs and encourages innovation in domestic pharmaceutical companies.

India Market Trends

The Indian government has launched the Rs 5,000 crore Scheme for Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma MedTech Sector (PRIP). The government aims to invest approximately Rs 17,000 crore in pharma R&D by FY28, focusing on cancer research, lifestyle disease prevention, medical technology, and niche segments like orphan drugs.

Growing Pharma Research to Drive Europe

Europe is expected to grow at a notable CAGR in the cell viability assays market in the foreseeable future. Research institutions in European nations have favorable infrastructure to conduct cell viability assays. The funding cut in research by the U.S. government opens doors for American scientists to conduct their experiments in Europe. Favorable government support by the European government and the rising adoption of advanced technologies promote market growth.

Germany Market Trends

Germany hosts around 700 pharmaceutical companies, employing a total of 133,000 people. The German government recently launched the National Pharma Strategy to secure the supply of pharmaceuticals, accelerating access to innovations and boosting Germany’s competitiveness in the pharma industry. (Source - Deutschland)

UK Market Trends

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) reported that the industry contributed to almost 5,000 research papers from 2019 to 2023, supporting 283 patent applications. 11% of such papers were in the top 1% of the most referenced scientific papers. The UK government announced ten-year funding for pharmaceutical R&D.

Top Companies in the Cell Viability Assays Market

Cell Viability Assays Market Companies

  • Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • Merck KGaA (MilliporeSigma)
  • Bio-Rad Laboratories
  • PerkinElmer Inc.
  • Promega Corporation
  • Lonza Group AG
  • Abcam plc
  • BD Biosciences
  • Agilent Technologies
  • Roche Diagnostics
  • Takara Bio Inc.
  • GE Healthcare Life Sciences
  • Enzo Life Sciences
  • Qiagen N.V.
  • Corning Incorporated
  • Sigma-Aldrich (part of Merck)
  • Sartorius AG
  • Tecan Group Ltd.
  • Luminex Corporation
  • Cellular Technology Limited (CTL)

Latest Announcement by Industry Leaders

James Atwood, General Manager of Opentrons Robotics, commented that the company’s newly launched automation marketplace serves as a one-stop shop, providing convenient access to products and services. The company aims to expand its marketplace offerings through strategic partnerships, especially in genomics, proteomics, and cell-based assays, ensuring customers can effortlessly address all their needs in one centralized location. (Source - Businesswire)

Recent Developments in the Cell Viability Assays Market

  • In October 2024, Sphere Fluidics announced the launch of Cyto-Mine Chroma, a second generation of its flagship Cyto-Mine platform. The new platform offers enhanced capabilities, including multiplexing and greater assay flexibility. The platform leverages picodroplet technology to encapsulate single cells, assess cellular function, and isolate target cells. (Source - News Medical Life Science)
  • In June 2024, Promega Corporation launched MyGlo Reagent Reader, a portable 96-well plate reader customized for specific Promega luminescence assays. The reagent reader is more cost-effective, portable, and convenient for researchers. It also uses the internet to access live data results. (Source - Biospectrum India)

Segments Covered in the Report

By Product Type

  • Reagents & Kits
    • Colorimetric Assays (MTT, MTS, XTT, WST)
    • Fluorometric Assays (Calcein-AM, resazurin)
    • Luminescent Assays (ATP-based, Luciferase-based)
    • Dye Exclusion Assays (Trypan Blue, Propidium Iodide)
  • Instruments & Systems
    • Microplate Readers
    • Fluorescence Microscopes
    • Flow Cytometers
    • Cell Imaging Systems

By Assay Type

  • Metabolic Activity-Based Assays
  • Membrane Integrity-Based Assays
  • Enzyme Activity-Based Assays
  • DNA Synthesis-Based Assays
  • Dye Exclusion-Based Assays

By Application

  • Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Research
  • Clinical Diagnostics
  • Academic and Government Research Institutes
  • Environmental Testing
  • Other Applications (Cosmetics, Food Industry)

By End-Use

  • Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies
  • Contract Research Organizations (CROs)
  • Academic and Research Institutes
  • Hospitals & Diagnostic Laboratories
  • Other

By Technology

  • Colorimetric
  • Luminescent
  • Fluorometric
  • Others (Electrochemical, Radiometric)

By Region 

  • North America
    • U.S.
    • Canada
  • Asia Pacific
    • China
    • Japan
    • India
    • South Korea
    • Thailand
  • Europe
    • Germany
    • UK
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • Sweden
    • Denmark
    • Norway
  • Latin America
    • Brazil
    • Mexico
    • Argentina
  • Middle East and Africa (MEA)
    • South Africa
    • UAE
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Kuwait
  • Last Updated: 16 July 2025
  • Report Covered: [Revenue + Volume]
  • Historical Year: 2021-2023
  • Base Year: 2024
  • Estimated Years: 2025-2034

Meet the Team

Deepa Pandey is a focused and detail-oriented market research professional with growing expertise in the healthcare sector, delivering high-quality insights across therapeutic areas, diagnostics, biotechnology and healthcare services.

Learn more about Deepa Pandey

Aditi Shivarkar, with over 14 years of experience in consumer goods, leads research at Towards Consumer Goods, ensuring precise, actionable insights on trends, consumer preferences, and sustainable packaging for businesses.

Learn more about Aditi Shivarkar

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FAQ's

The cell viability assays market is projected to reach USD 4.24 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 8.54% from 2025 to 2034.

North America is leading the cell viability assays market due to the availability of state-of-the-art research and development facilities, favorable government support, and the presence of key players.

The cell viability assays market includes 6 segments including by product type, by assay type, by application, by end-use, by technology, and by region.

Some key players include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Promega Corporation, and Sartorius AG.

Key trends include the growing research and development activities, the rising prevalence of chronic disorders, and the increasing demand for personalized medicines.

MTS, resazurin, TMRE, calcein violet, and ATP luminescence are different types of cell viability assays.

World Health Organization, National Institute of Health, Government of Canada, duetschland.de