Top Growth Factors in Research: 100 most cited products, 2025 update
5
Min Read
In this blog:
- Which growth factors are researchers citing often in publications?
- Which companies are supporting researchers with frequently referenced products?
- Download the complete top 100 growth factor dataset
At CiteAb, we use AI-driven technology to identify reagent use in the scientific literature. Our database is used by organisations globally to make informed decisions that drive better strategy and innovation, and by scientists to find the right products.
Welcome to the second top 100 cited life science product blog, focusing on growth factors and cytokines! (You can catch up on the Top 100 Life science assay kits analysis here if you missed it last week).
Each year, we analyse millions of scientific publications to uncover the most widely used life science tools.
This helps suppliers, researchers and analysts stay on top of emerging trends, identify portfolio gaps, and gain vital intelligence on the most popular reagents used in published research in the past year.
Growth Factor Data Overview
Our Growth Factor and Cytokine dataset includes well-known recombinant proteins, cytokines such as interleukins and TNF, and growth factors such as EGF, TGF and FGF.
Sourced from millions of peer-reviewed publications, this data covers products from over 120 different suppliers. We have information on over 20k distinct growth factor proteins, spanning diverse signaling pathways and biological processes.
For this analysis, we focused on citations from 2024 -offering actionable insight into the current state of the growth factor market, and which 100 products are most used by scientists.
Growth Factor Supplier Market Trends
An increasingly competitive market
A key trend we noticed in the top 100 growth factor dataset this year was growing diversity – 25 companies supplied products with enough citations to make it into the top 100 list. This is an increase from the last three year’s of analysis into this market, indicative of more competition to leaders from up and coming companies.
New entries into the list included specialists such as Axol Bioscience and QKine, as well as big players in the life science space such as Corning and FUJIFILM.
Leading the top 100 was R&D Systems with an impressive 23 products, followed by MilliporeSigma with 21 products. Joining them in the top five are Thermo Scientific, Sino Biological and PeproTech.
Interestingly, only two companies (R&D Systems and MilliporeSigma) had more than 10 products in the top 100 list.
Which are the growth factor and cytokine companies to watch?
Last time, we flagged Sino Biological as a company to watch. Indeed, in this update our data shows they have risen to fourth position with 7 products – an increase of five products that have been widely cited this year.
Their focus in this field and acquisition of SignalChem in 2023 could be contributing to their success. They certainly remain a key player to watch in this space.
Other up-and-comers entering the list with more than one highly cited product included STEMCELL Technologies with four products , one just outside the top 10 (Human Recombinant EGF Human Recombinant EGF) and Miltenyi Biotech with three products.
Andy Chalmers, CEO of CiteAb, commented:
“Growth factors support the research of so many scientists and high quality products are crucial for rapid advancement of discoveries. It is exciting to see so many suppliers contributing to growth factor research. The diversity in this year’s list points to innovation and healthy competition in the space – which will have benefits to the research community. ”
Top Cited Growth Factors of the Year
Now, we move our analysis to the products that these companies supply and that are widely cited by scientists.
The most cited growth factor of 2024 was PeproTech’s Recombinant Human FGF-basic (154 a.a.), Product Code: 100-18B.
This Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) tops the list for yet another year, reflecting its widespread use in cell proliferation, differentiation, and embryonic development research.
Composing the top 10 most cited products were four EGF’s, three Wnt-3a, one Wnt-5a and one LIF – unsurprisingly proving to be well used products amongst researchers.
Overall, we saw an expansion in the number of Wnt products in the top 100 (with over ten products entering the top 100). This increase could indicate growing focus in stem cell research, developmental and cancer biology.
Tagged growth factors (particularly EGF products) also grew in prevalence this year. These included rhodamine-conjugated, alexa fluor conjugated and biotinylated proteins. Are you noticing increasing demands in this area?
VEGF and Angiogenesis products continued to be widely cited by researchers in 2024, with examples included Angiopoietin-1 and VEGF165.
You can download the top 100 at the bottom of this blog for your own analysis.
Download the growth factor top 100 for your own analysis
Below, you can download the complete list of the top 100 growth factors and cytokines used by scientists in publications. You can use this data to spot opportunities for your portfolio, benchmark product performance, support marketing claims and more!
If you’d like to learn more about our full growth factor dataset for in-house analysis, you can request a demo or read more about our market data services here.
Finally, stay tuned for our next top 100 reagent analyses which will be focusing on RUO antibodies, bioactive small molecules and cell lines.
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