Why synthetic biology deserves attention?
Synthetic biology is very important for global sustainable development: synthetic biology rationally designs, transforms and even re synthesizes biological systems according to specific goals to solve the problems of human food shortage, energy shortage, environmental pollution, medical health and other aspects, which is very important for global sustainable development. According to the analysis data of cbinsights, It is estimated that the market scale of synthetic biology will reach US $18.9 billion by 2024, and the compound growth rate from 2019 to 2024 will reach 28.8%.
Synthetic biological manufacturing process has the advantages of green environmental protection, cost reduction and efficiency increase: the application of biotechnology can reduce industrial process energy consumption by 15-80%, raw material consumption by 35% – 75%, air pollution by 50% – 90% and water pollution by 33% – 80%. According to the World Wide Fund for nature (WWF), industrial biotechnology will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1 billion to 2.5 billion tons per year by 2030.
It has been widely valued by governments all over the world: in the European chemical industry roadmap for bioeconomy, the EU proposed the development goal of increasing the substitution share of bio based products or renewable raw materials to 25% by 2030; In 2020, the national development and Reform Commission proposed to support the construction of synthetic biology technology innovation center in the guiding opinions on expanding investment in strategic emerging industries and cultivating and expanding new growth points and growth poles.
Why pay attention to synthetic biology at this stage?
Multi domain products + listing of multiple companies: the concept of synthetic biology has been put forward for 20 years. With the rapid development of biology, bioinformatics, computer science, chemistry and other disciplines, it has realized from simple gene circuit design to genome synthesis. The successful listing of multi domain products and the listing of five companies around the world in the past year indicate that synthetic biology has ushered in a new development stage.
Advanced technology promotes the rapid development of the industry: efficient genome editing technology and DNA synthesis technology are the core enabling technologies of synthetic biology. CRISPR technology won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Chip synthesis technology realizes high-throughput gene synthesis. The iterative renewal of core technology has accelerated the development of synthetic biology industry.
Financing reached a record high in a single quarter: the investment in the primary market of synthetic biology increased significantly in 2021, and the investment in Q1 and Q2 increased rapidly in 2021. The financing of global synthetic biology related enterprises in 2021q3 reached a record high in a single quarter, with an investment of US $6.1 billion, an increase of 33% over the previous historical record. From the changes of synthetic biology investment over the years, it can be seen that 2021 has become the most prosperous year in the field of synthetic biology, which is expected to start the first year of synthetic biology research and development.
Which synthetic biology companies deserve attention?
From the perspective of upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, the upstream is all kinds of technology enabling companies and the downstream is all kinds of product application companies.
Technology enabling companies: provide key technical and product support for the synthetic biology industry, such as production materials and technical capabilities necessary for biosynthesis such as DNA sequencing, synthesis, gene editing, bioinformatics and strain construction. Product application companies: the core competence of industrial enterprises includes not only the technical competence of strains and genes involved in the main products, but also the ability of industrialized production and commercial promotion, covering many fields such as industrial chemicals, medical treatment, food, materials and cosmetics / skin care products.
From the perspective of investment: for product application companies, ① first of all, we need to focus on the market space of the subdivided field where the core products are located, as well as the core competitive advantages such as product performance and cost; ② Secondly, it is necessary to judge whether the company has core technology and continuous R & D capability; ③ Finally, we also need to pay attention to the company’s industrialized production and operation capacity, whether it has stable production capacity and strong market promotion capacity. For technology enabled companies, leading technical capabilities and advanced technology platforms are their core competitiveness. ① on the one hand, we can focus on the application scope of their core technologies and product cases of successful application; ② on the other hand, we should also continue to focus on the iterative research and development capability of their technology platforms.
Suggestions for attention: Huadong Medicine Co.Ltd(000963) , Cathay Biotech Inc(688065) , Anhui Huaheng Biotechnology Co.Ltd(688639) , Cabio Biotech (Wuhan) Co.Ltd(688089) , CHUANNING Biology (to be listed)
Investment perspective: synthetic biology – the future has come, opening the era of “creation”
Risk warning: the risk of product sales falling short of expectations; Risk of product development and technology iteration falling short of expectations; Risk of strain leakage; Market competition intensifies risks.
