The Biotechnology Revolution: Global Market Restructuring Driven by Precision Medicine and Synthetic Biology in 2025
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The Official Dawn of the Precision Medicine Era
In 2025, the biotechnology industry is undergoing its most dynamic transformation in history due to the commercialization of Precision Medicine and the rapid advancement of Synthetic Biology. McKinsey & Company projects that the global biotech market will grow from $985 billion in 2024 to $1.21 trillion in 2025, a 22.8% increase, indicating that the accumulated technological innovations and capital investments post-pandemic are entering a full-scale commercialization phase. Particularly, the emergence of successful AI-based drug development platforms is fundamentally reshaping the research and development paradigm of the traditional pharmaceutical industry.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 187 new biopharmaceuticals in the first half of 2025 alone, with 73% being precision medicine solutions utilizing personal genetic information. At the core of this change are the cost reduction of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology and the sophistication of artificial intelligence algorithms. Illumina’s latest NovaSeq X Plus platform has reduced the cost of whole genome analysis to below $200 per genome, surpassing the threshold for widespread adoption, while Google’s DeepMind’s AlphaFold 3 has increased protein structure prediction accuracy to 96.3%, shortening drug development time by an average of 3.2 years.
South Korea’s biotech ecosystem is also showing remarkable growth. Samsung Biologics recorded an order backlog of $14.7 billion by the third quarter of 2025, capturing a 17.2% share of the global biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) market. Celltrion achieved annual sales of 2.8 trillion won in the biosimilar sector, significantly enhancing brand recognition in the European and North American markets. The success of these companies not only demonstrates South Korea’s emergence as a biotech manufacturing powerhouse but also indicates the expanding role of Asian companies in the global biotech value chain.
In the field of synthetic biology, the production of biofuels and biomaterials using microorganisms has reached a commercial tipping point. According to a recent report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the synthetic biology market grew to $39 billion in 2025 and is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of 28.4% until 2030. With increasing global interest in sustainability, bio-based materials that can replace petrochemical products are gaining attention. Ginkgo Bioworks in the U.S. has entered the commercialization phase of a project producing plastic substitutes through genetically engineered microorganisms, while Denmark’s Novozymes holds a 42% market share in the production of eco-friendly detergent ingredients using enzyme technology.
The most notable advancement in the field of precision medicine is the commercialization of liquid biopsy technology. Blood-based cancer diagnostic kits developed by Guardant Health and Foundation Medicine in the U.S. currently demonstrate over 95% accuracy in 2025, reducing costs by 70% compared to traditional tissue biopsies. These technological advancements are rapidly expanding the early cancer diagnosis market, with the global liquid biopsy market growing 47% from $5.3 billion in 2024 to $7.8 billion in 2025. The demand increase is particularly pronounced in the Asia-Pacific region, with China and Japan alone recording a 63% growth compared to the previous year.
A New Paradigm Created by the Convergence of AI and Biotech
The convergence of artificial intelligence and biotechnology began to yield tangible results in 2025. Atomic AI in the U.S. successfully developed mRNA vaccines responding to new coronavirus variants 80% faster than conventional methods using an AI model for RNA structure prediction. Exscientia in the UK gained attention when its AI-designed drug candidate ‘EXS-21546’ demonstrated 40% higher efficacy than existing treatments in Phase 2 clinical trials. These success stories indicate that AI-based drug development has moved beyond the experimental stage to become a practical solution.
The advancement of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology is also remarkable. The sickle cell disease treatment ‘Casgevy,’ co-developed by Roche in Switzerland and Gilead Sciences in the U.S., was administered to 2,847 patients worldwide by 2025, achieving a 93.7% treatment success rate. This suggests that gene editing therapies could expand beyond rare diseases to broader disease treatment areas. Chinese biotech companies are also experiencing rapid growth in this field, with BeiGene and WuXi Biologics securing top-tier global technology in CAR-T cell therapy and monoclonal antibody development, respectively.
The commercialization of personalized medicine is driving innovative changes, particularly in the field of oncology. Tempus in the U.S. recorded monthly sales of $42 million in a service that suggests optimal treatments for patients through an AI-based tumor profiling platform, a 156% increase compared to the same period last year. Novo Nordisk in Denmark also announced that it has commercialized an AI system that optimizes insulin dosages for diabetes patients by analyzing genetic information and lifestyle patterns, improving blood sugar control effects by 27%.
Another notable trend in the biotech industry is the rapid growth of digital therapeutics. The U.S. FDA approved 47 digital therapeutics by 2025, with 32 targeting mental health and neurological disorders. CureVac in Germany developed a VR-based digital therapeutic for depression that reduced side effects by 85% compared to traditional drug treatments while demonstrating equivalent therapeutic effects in clinical trials. The global digital therapeutics market grew to $8.9 billion in 2025 and is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of 23.1% until 2030.
In the realm of synthetic biology, microbial factory technology has entered the commercialization phase. Genentech, which acquired Zymergen in the U.S., announced a 45% reduction in production costs compared to traditional chemical synthesis methods at a facility producing anticancer drug ingredients using genetically modified bacteria. Carbios in France commercialized a process that fully recycles PET bottles using enzyme-based plastic decomposition technology and plans to build 12 recycling facilities across Europe. These developments demonstrate that biotechnology plays a crucial role not only in the medical field but also in solving environmental issues and establishing a sustainable industrial ecosystem.
From an investment perspective, the biotech industry continues to see robust capital inflows in 2025. Global biotech venture capital investment reached $28.7 billion by the third quarter of 2025, a 12% increase compared to the same period last year. Investment focus is particularly high in AI-based drug development and precision medicine, with 64% of total investments concentrated in these two areas. In the Asian region, China and South Korea attracted $4.2 billion and $1.8 billion in biotech investments, respectively, strengthening their positions in the global biotech ecosystem.
Changes in the regulatory environment also significantly impact industry development. The U.S. FDA simplified the ‘AI/ML-based medical device approval guidelines’ in 2025, reducing the average approval period from 8 months to 4.5 months. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also improved the approval process for gene and cell therapies, reducing the average approval period from 13 months to 9 months. The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is expanding its dedicated organization for advanced biopharmaceutical reviews to secure global regulatory competitiveness. These regulatory improvements accelerate the market entry of innovative biotech solutions and create an environment where patients can benefit from advanced therapies more quickly.
The competitive landscape of global biotech companies is also rapidly changing. Traditional big pharma companies are securing technology through partnerships or acquisitions with innovative biotech startups, while emerging biotech companies are establishing global leadership in specialized technology areas. Moderna in Massachusetts, U.S., achieved a market capitalization of $120 billion with groundbreaking results in personalized cancer vaccine development using its mRNA platform, and Oxford Nanopore in the UK surpassed $500 million in annual sales by pioneering the field diagnostic market with portable DNA sequencing technology.
The current state of the biotechnology industry in 2025 demonstrates that technological innovation and commercial success are harmonizing to achieve true industrial innovation. As AI-based drug development success stories accumulate, precision medicine becomes mainstream, and synthetic biology offers solutions for a sustainable future, this industry plays a crucial role in addressing human health and environmental issues. The rise of Asian companies and improvements in the global regulatory environment herald a more dynamic and innovative biotech ecosystem, with even more remarkable developments expected in 2026.
