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As profits at biopharmaceutical companies and contract labs shrink and drag budgets down with them, instrument makers have to work even harder to prove the worth of their products, and avoid becoming a casualty of a "slimmed-down" business model. The products listed below are an example of how improved wavelength accuracy, faster scan times, and smaller sample volumes can contribute to better, faster drug development.

Wavelength accuracy is key to obtaining useful qualitative and quantitative results and with sub-nanometer accuracies there is no doubt that researchers will be getting measurements they can rely on. As fewer staff members are responsible for testing more and more samples, the importance of faster scan times becomes obvious. In keeping with the idea of austerity, spectrophotometer manufacturers are working toward reducing the amount of analyte necessary to test, with some devices now requiring only a few microliters.