medisourceasia.com logo

Market

Trendz  & Analysis

Page 1 of  4


About 
medisourceasia

Magazine
Industry News
Global Trends
Events Calendar
Web Links

Web Gallery

Advertising  Info

Contact

 

Pharmaceutical Industry: An Asian Perspective

Overview and Future Direction

-Rhenu K. Bhuller, Regional Research Manager


Introduction

The pharmaceutical industry is under tremendous pressure to keep delivering the blockbuster products and good profits that it has managed to secure in past years, but maintaining this has never been more difficult. In 2000, 13 of the top 100 products went off patent, equaling $11 billion in sales. By 2010, patents on 100 billion worth of drugs are expiring. In order to maintain double digit growth, a US$20 billion company would have to launch a product that will bring in approximately US$3 billion each year.

While the number of new products has increased, clinical development time has doubled since 1982 to an average of 68 months with an expansion in the use of complicated technologies, a focus on more complex and life-threatening diseases, demands for higher standards of safety and efficacy and a need to develop medicines for global markets. Pharmaceutical companies spend an average of 240 million in the United States on clinical trials required by the FDA, and this does include drugs that fail to make it onto the market.  

With pressure on every front from drug pricing to sales and marketing budgets to a lack of R & D productivity, it is no big surprise that companies have to look at every possible potential market to maximize sales and profits.  

Asia – 28 percent of the world pharmaceutical market and growing  

Related Links

Advertisement

 

Asia is currently perceived, as one of the fastest growing healthcare markets in the world, and pharmaceuticals is no exception. After going through one of the toughest times ever at the height of the economic crisis in the late 1990s, most Asian markets have recovered strongly and look set to forge ahead in this millennium. Asian governments and the private healthcare sector are taking steps to ensure that they are not left behind in the ‘new age’ of healthcare. Governments are either forming regulations or programs to make their countries attractive to healthcare investors in terms of manufacturing of research or are making solid investments themselves to being them on par with their Western counterparts. Healthcare industries in Asian countries have evolved from consisting mainly of multinational companies with import and marketing functions. There is now a wide range of such companies involved in product development, clinical trials, research and manufacturing activities in the region. Additionally the traditional healthcare market segments like pharmaceuticals have now expanded to include a significant portion of other healthcare segments like medical devices, diagnostics, hospital equipment and information systems, biotechnology and ehealth.

Frost & Sullivan estimates that the total pharmaceutical market in Asia Pacific stood at more than US$95 billion in 2001, and this represents approximately 28 percent of the world market in terms of manufacturers’ revenues. Market sizes of some of the key individual countries are shown in Figure 1.  

Figure 1: Overview of the pharmaceutical markets in Asia (billion USD)

By 2005, manufacturer revenues in this region are expected to surpass US$110 billion.  Hopefully, with continuing economic recovery and more stable currency trends, Asian pharmaceutical markets are forecast to experience growth in the 2000-2005 period with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.8 percent (10.4 percent excluding Japan). Strongest growing markets are China, India, South Korea, Australia and Taiwan.

There are key trends that have pushed or are pushing this development among which are the large population base with the increasing percentage of the aged, the increasing incidence of ‘Western’ lifestyle diseases, better infrastructure in terms of facilities, hospitals and skills as well as Government support for healthcare research and development.

Other major changes in the Asian markets are national healthcare reforms, maturing national health insurance systems and increasing coverage of populations by medical insurance, a growing popularity of the internet, intensifying local competition and an increasing number of research centers in Asia

The ‘graying’ of Asia

One of the major challenges in Asia is the impact of the growing population especially that of the elderly, which is causing an increase in the prevalence of diseases, related to old age. With an estimated population of 3.2 billion in 2000, the Asia Pacific region holds approximately 40 percent of the world population, but the increasing life expectancy is contributing towards the gradual ‘graying’ of Asia. By 2005, it is estimated that 25 percent of the population in Australia and Japan will be above 55 years of age. In Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, it is estimated at 11 percent, while for Singapore, it is estimated at almost 8 percent. Increasing urbanization, spending power and sophisticated lifestyles are also causing an increase in awareness on issues such as weight reduction and hair loss. Figure 2 and 3 provides key demographic trends in the region, and the aging population for some major countries. 

Next  |  Page 1   Page 2   Page 3   Page 4   |  Back To Top | Back