Asia Pacific has recovered from the economic downturn “significantly faster” than western countries, said Simranjit Singh, director, Frost & Sullivan (F&S). In particular Singh highlighted Malaysia as a country well equipped to grow its biopharm industry.
Singh believes Malaysia is an ideal country to produce generics because of its “existing strong base of regional players such as CCM Pharma, Pharmaniaga, Kotrapharma, etc that have raised standards for quality products".
Despite F&S’ belief in the rising standards in Malaysia, Singh said “the large number of counterfeits and concern for the quality of generics” are factors restricting growth.
F&S predicts that the Malaysian biopharm sector will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 per cent from 2009 to 2012.
Factors driving growth include rising demand for drugs to treat lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes, lack of price controls in the private sector and strong government support for generics.
The generics market in 2010 is valued at US$416m (€337m) with an expected CAGR of eight per cent. F&S believes there are opportunities for domestic manufacturers of good quality generics to expand or consolidate to achieve economies of scale.
Malaysia also represents an opportunity for overseas investors. "Given the proper incentives and the right time, Malaysia could present a very viable option for investors to setting up base for their pharmaceutical and biotechnology operations", said Singh.
Growth therapeutics
Other therapeutic areas highlighted by Singh include cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and oncology. The Malaysian markets for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are valued at $100m and $95m respectively.
Diabetes is viewed as a particularly opportunity. Malaysia has 1.8m diabetics but it is believed a further 80 per cent is undiagnosed, demonstrating a need for greater diagnosis and treatment.
The onlocolgy market is valued at $30m, with growth coming from early diagnosis and targeted therapy of lung, breast and colorectal cancer.