Introduction
The global chromatography resin market is moderately consolidated. In process-scale biopharmaceutical resins, and particularly in Protein A affinity media, a small number of global suppliers account for the majority of sales because their resins are specified in the regulatory filings of most commercial biologics. Below this group, a set of specialist suppliers competes in particular chemistries, ligands or formats, while regional producers in China and Japan compete in domestic markets and in cost-sensitive applications such as biosimilars and food processing. The Food & Others application, worth USD 188.88 Million in 2025, is more fragmented and includes industrial resin manufacturers.
Competition is based on resin performance, especially dynamic binding capacity, alkaline stability, resin lifetime, selectivity and pressure-flow characteristics, as well as regulatory support, supply security and technical service. Since 2022, competitive activity has focused on next-generation high-capacity Protein A resins, mixed-mode and specialty ligands for complex antibodies and gene therapy vectors, capacity expansions to provide multi-site supply, and acquisitions that fill portfolio gaps, such as Merck KGaA’s acquisition of JSR Life Sciences’ chromatography business and Repligen’s acquisition of Tantti Laboratory. The growing emphasis on dual sourcing among biopharmaceutical manufacturers is creating openings for challengers, while long qualification cycles continue to protect incumbents.
Key Player Positioning
The leading companies are grouped below into leaders, challengers and niche players based on a qualitative assessment of their chromatography resin portfolio breadth, installed base in commercial processes, geographic reach and recent strategic activity.
Leaders: Cytiva (Danaher Corporation), Merck KGaA (MilliporeSigma) and Thermo Fisher Scientific offer broad resin portfolios across affinity, ion exchange, mixed-mode and specialty chemistries, global manufacturing and support, and strong positions in commercial biologics processes.
Challengers: Bio-Rad Laboratories, Tosoh Corporation, Purolite (an Ecolab company) and Repligen Corporation hold strong positions in specific chemistries or ligands and are expanding capacity and portfolios to gain specifications as second sources.
Niche players: Avantor, Kaneka Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Sunresin New Materials and JNC Corporation focus on particular resin types, applications or regions, such as Protein A alternatives, synthetic adsorbents for peptides and food, cellulose-based media for vaccines, or cost-competitive media for the Chinese market.
Leaders
Cytiva (Danaher Corporation): Cytiva, the bioprocessing business of Danaher Corporation, was formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences, acquired by Danaher in 2020, and was combined with Pall’s life sciences business under the Cytiva name in 2023. It is widely regarded as the largest supplier of process-scale chromatography resins, with an installed base across most commercial antibody processes. Danaher reported FY2025 revenue of USD 24.57 billion, including USD 7.29 billion from its Biotechnology segment, which is mainly Cytiva bioprocessing. Its portfolio spans MabSelect Protein A media, including the MabSelect SuRe 70 and MabSelect PrismA X resins launched in April 2025, Capto ion exchange, multimodal and Protein L media, Sepharose agarose resins and Superdex size exclusion media. Cytiva’s strategy combines tiered Protein A offerings for clinical and commercial use with supply security investments, including vertically integrated agarose production, a doubling of resin capacity in Uppsala, Sweden, and a second resin manufacturing site in Muskegon, Michigan, U.S., expected to be fully operational by 2028.
Merck KGaA (MilliporeSigma): Merck KGaA, founded in 1668 and headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, operates its Life Science business as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada. Its Process Solutions business supplies downstream chromatography resins, including Eshmuno ion exchange, mixed-mode and Protein A media, Fractogel EMD tentacle ion exchange resins and ProSep controlled-pore glass Protein A media. Group net sales were EUR 21.10 billion in FY2025, with the Life Science sector at EUR 8.98 billion and Process Solutions at EUR 3.79 billion, its fastest-growing business. In April 2026, MilliporeSigma completed the acquisition of the chromatography business of JSR Life Sciences, adding the Amsphere Protein A resins and strengthening its position in affinity capture. Merck’s strategy is to offer an end-to-end downstream portfolio across resins, filtration and single-use systems, expand manufacturing in Asia Pacific, and grow in new modalities, supported by the 2024 acquisition of viral vector transfection specialist Mirus Bio.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.: Thermo Fisher Scientific is the world’s largest life science tools company, with FY2025 revenue of USD 44.56 billion. Its bioprocessing business within the Life Sciences Solutions segment offers POROS perfusive polymeric resins for ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, mixed-mode and Protein A affinity separations, and CaptureSelect affinity resins based on camelid single-domain antibody ligands for antibodies, fragments, tagged proteins and AAV vectors. The POROS Oligo (dT)25 resin addresses mRNA purification, and the POROS Caprylate mixed-mode cation exchange resin was introduced in 2024. Thermo Fisher manufactures resins in the U.S., the Netherlands and Lithuania. Its strategy is to differentiate through high-throughput chemistries and selective affinity ligands for new modalities, while selling resins as part of an end-to-end bioproduction portfolio strengthened by the September 2025 acquisition of Solventum’s Purification & Filtration business and new bioprocess design centres in Asia.
Challengers
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.: Bio-Rad Laboratories, founded in 1952, supplies life science research and clinical diagnostics products and reported FY2025 net sales of USD 2.583 billion, of which the Life Science segment contributed USD 1.021 billion. Its Process Chromatography business offers CHT ceramic hydroxyapatite, a distinctive mixed-mode medium used in demanding polishing applications, together with Nuvia ion exchange and mixed-mode resins and UNOsphere ion exchange resins. Bio-Rad launched the Nuvia wPrime 2A mixed-mode resin in January 2025 and has extended its Foresight Pro GMP-ready pre-packed columns to larger diameters and, from September 2026, to Nuvia resins. The company focuses on specialised polishing chemistries rather than high-volume Protein A capture and is bundling resins into pre-packed formats to reduce customers’ packing and validation workload.
Tosoh Corporation (Tosoh Bioscience): Tosoh Corporation is a diversified Japanese chemical company whose Bioscience business produces separation media and clinical diagnostics. Consolidated net sales were JPY 1,019.9 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2026, with the Bioscience segment at approximately JPY 69.0 billion. Tosoh Bioscience offers polymethacrylate-based TOYOPEARL resins covering Protein A and Protein L affinity, GigaCap high-capacity ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, mixed-mode and size exclusion, along with TSKgel media and Ca++Pure-HA hydroxyapatite. Tosoh is expanding separation media capacity by about 70% at its Nanyo Complex, operational from March 2025, and is building a new plant at its Yokkaichi Complex scheduled to begin commercial operation in June 2027. Its strategy emphasises pressure-stable media suited to process intensification, multi-column chromatography offerings and positioning as a second source to the market leaders.
Purolite (an Ecolab company): Purolite has been part of Ecolab since December 2021 and operates within Ecolab Life Sciences. It manufactures agarose-based Praesto Protein A affinity and ion exchange resins, many produced with its proprietary jetting process that yields highly uniform beads. Ecolab reported FY2025 net sales of USD 16,081.2 million, of which the Global Life Sciences segment, which includes Purolite, contributed USD 747.9 million. Purolite co-develops affinity resins with ligand partner Repligen, including the Praesto CH1 resin launched in February 2024 and the DurA Cycle Protein A resin launched in June 2024, and introduced the AP+50 Protein A resin in June 2025. It has added resin manufacturing in Wales, U.K., and Landenberg, Pennsylvania, U.S., and opened applications laboratories in Pennsylvania and in Dongtan, South Korea. Its strategy is to be the leading alternative source of high-performance Protein A resins for dual sourcing.
Repligen Corporation: Repligen is a bioprocessing technology company with FY2025 revenue of USD 738.3 million. It is a leading producer of Protein A affinity ligands supplied to resin manufacturers, and it sells its own AVIPure affinity resins for AAV and other targets and OPUS pre-packed chromatography columns manufactured in Breda, the Netherlands. In December 2024, Repligen completed the acquisition of Tantti Laboratory, developer of DuloCore convective bead technology, and in December 2025 it launched the AVIPure HiPer AAV8 and AAV9 affinity resins and the HiPer QA anion exchange resin on this platform. Its partnership with Purolite has produced co-developed resins for antibodies and fragments. Repligen’s strategy is to move from ligand supply toward branded resins and pre-packed columns integrated with process analytics for intensified downstream processing, with a particular focus on gene therapy and other new modalities.
Niche Players
Avantor, Inc.: Avantor is a life science products and distribution company that reported FY2025 net sales of USD 6,552.2 million, including USD 2,152.5 million from its Bioscience Production segment. Under the J.T.Baker brand, it offers BAKERBOND process chromatography resins, including the PROchievA recombinant Protein A resin and the PolyPEI, PolyQUAT, PolyABx and PolyCSX multimode ion exchange media, along with custom media and column packing services. Avantor has expanded downstream process development capabilities, including a Bridgewater, New Jersey, innovation centre opened in November 2024 and an expanded Singapore hub. It positions its resins as an alternative source within a broader bioprocessing consumables offering, and since 2025 it has been executing a transformation programme to sharpen its portfolio focus.
Kaneka Corporation: Kaneka Corporation is a diversified Japanese chemical company with consolidated net sales of JPY 811,638 million for the fiscal year ended March 2026, of which the Health Care Solutions unit accounted for JPY 83.0 billion. Kaneka developed KANEKA KanCapA, an alkali-tolerant Protein A affinity resin first launched in 2012, and offers the higher-capacity KanCapA 3G along with Protein G and Protein L resins in bulk and pre-packed formats. Kaneka combines its resin franchise with contract manufacturing through its subsidiary Kaneka Eurogentec in Belgium, which has expanded mRNA manufacturing capacity. The company positions its resins as a high-capacity alternative to incumbent Protein A suppliers and uses distribution partners to extend its reach.
Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation: Mitsubishi Chemical Group is a diversified chemical group that reported sales revenue of JPY 3,703,988 million from continuing operations for the fiscal year ended March 2026. Through Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and its Italian subsidiary Resindion, it produces DIAION ion exchange resins and synthetic adsorbents, SEPABEADS adsorbents and MCI GEL chromatography media that are used in the purification of peptides, insulin, antibiotics, proteins and food ingredients. Its strengths lie in synthetic polymer resins for small-molecule, peptide and food applications rather than Protein A capture. The group is reshaping its portfolio around specialty materials, having divested Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in 2025, and is investing selectively in high-value resin applications.
Sunresin New Materials Co., Ltd.: Sunresin is a Chinese producer of adsorption and separation resins and systems, serving metals extraction, water treatment, food, chemicals and life sciences. It reported FY2025 operating revenue of CNY 2.786 billion, with its life sciences segment contributing CNY 636 million. Its Seplife range includes agarose, dextran and monodisperse polymer chromatography media covering ion exchange, reversed-phase and Protein A affinity resins, as well as solid-phase synthesis carriers for peptides and oligonucleotides. Sunresin is building a large life science materials park in Pucheng, Shaanxi, announced in September 2026 as an approximately USD 160 million bioprocessing materials facility, and opened a European hub in Uppsala, Sweden, in June 2026. Its strategy is to become a lower-cost alternative to Western suppliers for global biopharmaceutical customers.
JNC Corporation: JNC Corporation is a Tokyo-based chemical company with consolidated net sales of JPY 137.0 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2026. It manufactures Cellufine cellulose-based chromatography media for biopharmaceutical downstream processing, including ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, mixed-mode, and sulfate and dextran sulfate affinity resins used for vaccines, viruses, viral vectors and heparin-binding proteins, as well as endotoxin removal media. Recent launches include Cellufine Phenyl EX in 2022, Cellufine MAX Butyl HS and MAX Q-hv for pneumococcal vaccine purification in 2024, and Cellufine Phosphate HC for mRNA polymerase purification in 2026. JNC targets vaccines and new modalities with its large-pore bead technologies and has strengthened supply resilience by qualifying additional manufacturing sites.
Competitor Dashboard
The dashboard below rates each profiled company on four qualitative parameters: breadth of chromatography resin product portfolio, regional presence, strategic alliances and industry experience in separation media.
Threat of New Entrants – Low
High barriers created by ligand intellectual property, bead manufacturing know-how and the capital needed for GMP-compliant production.
Long qualification cycles and regulatory lock-in favour incumbent resins in commercial processes.
Regional entrants, particularly in China and India, are gaining ground in domestic markets but face hurdles in regulated Western markets.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers – Medium
High-purity agarose and recombinant ligands are available from a limited number of producers.
Leading resin manufacturers have integrated ligand production or hold long-term agreements, which reduces supplier leverage.
Synthetic polymer and silica backbones are more widely available, limiting supplier power in those chemistries.
Bargaining Power of Buyers – Medium
Large biopharmaceutical companies and CDMOs negotiate volume pricing and multi-year agreements.
Once a resin is qualified in a commercial process, switching costs are high, which limits buyer power after selection.
Biosimilar developers and price-sensitive markets exert stronger pricing pressure at the process development stage.
Threat of Substitutes – Medium
Membrane adsorbers and monoliths compete in flow-through polishing and large-molecule purification.
Non-chromatographic capture methods such as precipitation and crystallisation are under development but not widely adopted at commercial scale.
Resins remain the benchmark for bind-and-elute capture, limiting near-term substitution.
Intensity of Competitive Rivalry – High
A small number of global suppliers compete intensively on binding capacity, alkaline stability, lifetime and supply security.
Frequent product launches, particularly in affinity resins, and acquisitions shape competition.
Regional suppliers are increasing price competition in Asia Pacific and other emerging markets.
Threat of New Entrants: Low; Ligand IP, manufacturing know-how, regulatory lock-in.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Medium; Concentrated agarose and ligand supply, partly offset by integration.
Bargaining Power of Buyers: Medium; Volume negotiation by large buyers, offset by high switching costs.
Threat of Substitutes: Medium; Membranes and monoliths in polishing; resins dominant in capture.
Competitive Rivalry: High; Concentrated global suppliers, frequent launches, regional price competition.
