“By 2016, the global pharma industry is expected to generate an estimated 30% of its total sales in emerging markets,” Gurpreet Sandhu, Managing Director of Indian contract manufacturer Reva Pharma told delegates at last week’s CPhI Pre-Connect Congress in Madrid.
This is a large jump from 2010, when emerging markets represented 18% of total sales but by 2020 “there will be $500bn coming out of the growth markets and this is a total game changer,” according to Sandhu.
“Pharmerging markets are a key driver across the whole industry - not just for Big Pharma but for the Big Generics firms as well,” he said.
The pharmerging markets have traditionally been viewed as the BRIC countries, and they continue to see low double-digit growth* but Sandhu said firms will be targeting countries including Mexico, Turkey, Poland, Venezuela, Argentina, Indonesia, Vietnam, Romania, Egypt, Ukraine, Pakistan, Thailand and South Africa as the next tier of markets demanding greater volumes of medicines.
In 2012, the top 10 pharma markets were, in order, the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, Brazil, Italy, Canada, UK and Spain, but by 2017 India and Russia will push out UK and Spain.
“Already healthcare spending in emerging markets has overtaken that of the top five EU countries – Germany, France, Italy, UK and Spain,” and this trend will continue, he said.
*Citing IMS Health figures, Sandhu said the 2013-7 Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) were: Brazil 11-14%, Russia 9-12%, India 11-14%, and China 15-18%.