The circRNA synthesis market is expanding rapidly: it was valued at USD 183.58 million in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 592.84 million by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.85% between 2025 and 2032. Circular RNA’s defining feature — a covalent bond that renders the molecule more stable and resistant to exonucleases than linear RNA — underpins growing interest from researchers and pharmaceutical companies for applications in gene regulation, biomarker discovery, drug discovery and therapy.
CircRNA synthesis: drivers and enabling technologies
Several technical and market factors are driving demand for circRNA synthesis. Advances in RNA synthesis technologies, investments in RNA-based drug discovery, and expanded research in oncology, neurological diseases, rare/orphan diseases and precision medicine are cited as principal growth drivers. Improvements in RNA sequencing, synthetic biology, enzymatic ligation, exon–intron permuting approaches, rolling circle transcription, automation and sequence optimization are enabling more efficient, stable and functionally consistent circRNA production. Next-generation sequencing and transcriptomics techniques are also increasing the ability to discover and characterize circRNA expression profiles, creating opportunities in biomarker discovery and disease research.
At the same time, the field faces methodological inconsistency. Laboratories use a variety of purification, quantification, enrichment and validation methods — including RNase R depletion, divergent primers quantitative PCR and RNA sequencing — and the lack of standardized procedures or quality-control measures is identified as an obstacle to translating circRNA technologies from research into regulated clinical applications.
Leading companies and market applications
Several service and reagent providers are highlighted as active in the circRNA synthesis market. GenScript is noted for its expertise in in vitro transcription and circular RNA synthesis; in September 2023 the company enhanced its mRNA IVT synthesis platform by offering custom circRNA synthesis and lipid nanoparticle formulation services. Thermo Fisher Scientific is presented as a relevant player because of its broad portfolio of molecular biology reagents, nucleic acids technologies, sequencing instruments and laboratory solutions suited to circRNA synthesis, characterization, sequencing and functional studies. Creative Biogene is expanding its offerings with custom RNA synthesis and biotech services for academic and pharmaceutical users to support circRNA biology, expression and therapeutic research. OriGene Technologies contributes through gene synthesis, custom cloning and molecular biology services and research reagents used by academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers.
The market outlook anticipates continued use of circRNA by pharmaceutical and biotech companies, with applications progressing from research into therapeutic, diagnostic and drug-discovery tools. The stability of circRNA relative to linear RNA and its capacity for protein expression are cited as factors enabling circRNA-based therapeutic studies. Growing research into circRNA biomarkers is expected to open diagnostic and treatment-monitoring possibilities. Outsourced services for synthesis, sequencing, purification, validation and bioinformatics are forecast to gain traction as circRNA projects become more specialized, increasing opportunities for providers of end-to-end development solutions that include sequence design, synthesis optimization, analytics and validation. The development and adoption of standardized protocols for synthesis, purification, quantification and quality assessment are identified as important priorities for clinical translation.
