Biologics market worth $158bn by 2015, new report

The survey, conducted by Global Industry Analysts, forecasts that protein drug sales will be worth more than $158bn (€122.6bn) by 2015 and expects therapeutic antibodies emerging as the market leader.

The authors suggest that: “[the] growing indispensability [of biologics] in the practice of health care worldwide​” makes them more resilient to economic cycles than traditional small molecule drugs.

Instead GIA predict that, in time, generic competition and the technical difficulty associated with developing innovative biologics will play more of a role in the biologics sector over the period.

“While growth of protein drugs is healthy, industry participants face several new and serious challenges in foreseeable future. Notably, several blockbuster drugs will lose patent exclusivity in short-to-medium term and pipeline of pioneer, game changing drugs remain slim​.”