China and India are expected to enjoy growth of 30 to 35 per cent until 2011, with Western Europe lagging behind with an annual rise of 10.6 per cent.
This appears to put the emerging markets in a strong position to capitalise on the biotech sector, which big pharma is increasingly looking to as a solution to its somewhat arid pipelines.
The report states: “Overall, the pharmaceutical industry is facing increasing challenges, deriving from high costs for the development of innovative active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
“This is coupled with high failure risks, pressure on prices of medicines, a fierce fight against the “un-vulnerability” and duration of patents, and a moderate, even if steady, global growth rate of the demand for drugs.”
Israel is another nation highlighted by the report, with the countries meteoric rise up the biotech API ladder expected to continue unabated at an annual growth rate of 30 to 35 per cent.
With regards to investments in API development companies in the United Kingdom are far ahead of their European counterparts, with its pipeline accounting for three quarters of biotech products being developed in the EU. Switzerland is a distant second.
The report also espouses the view that bio-catalysis offers “enormous advantages” over conventional chemical synthesis.
Justifications for this view include reduced environmental pollution, less undesirable side effects and reduced reliance upon crude oil.
Booming biogenerics
Exceptional annual growth of 30.3 per cent is predicted for the biogeneric API sector, which is due to be worth $3.36bn by 2011.
This will primarily be driven by demand for erythropoietin, granulocyte colony stimulating factors (g-CSFs), interferon alpha and human growth hormone (hGH), with these four products accounting for 80 per cent of the market.
Out of the Far Eastern countries the CPA report highlights India as being best equipped to exploit this demand and grow into a “biogeneric hub”.
This is attributed to India’s increasing good clinical practice (GCP) compliant research, fermentation expertise, “Western-open” mentality and “major affordability as regards Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) regime in comparison” with China.