Processing seals market accelerated by Industry 4.0
The report projects that the market will be worth $603m (€537m) by 2023, with year-over-year growth estimate of 4.94% in 2019.
Overall, TechNavio expects the market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6% towards 2023.
The importance of effective sealing solutions is often made apparent when there is a failure of such products, such as during Hospira’s on-going manufacturing issues led to a recall of diazepam injections and B Braun had to change its sealing product due to the failure of its bromobutyl stoppers.
In terms of the specific products seeing such growth, O-ring seals represented 41% of the overall market share in 2018 due to various potential applications, while gaskets are set to grow at a CAGR of 6% due to their resistance to chemical reactions.
North America accounts for the largest geographic segment of the market, with 43% of overall global revenue generated in this region.
Pharma 4.0 tech
TechNavio reports that the uptake of Pharma 4.0 technology will be the trend that drives growth into the future of this market.
The research company reasoned that as more Industry 4.0 technology is implemented, the manufacturing equipment will need to be changed and this will “simultaneously impact the pharmaceutical processing seals being used in this equipment, thereby driving market growth.”
Additionally, the report notes that the expansion of health care provisions globally is driving the consumption of drugs, which has a knock-on benefit for the processing seal market.
Challenges
However, it identified “the low rate of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals [as a] crucial challenge,” an observation that appears at odds with analysis of the FDA’s performance in 2018.
Under former FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, the agency focused on improving the rate of approvals, both for innovative and generic approvals.
As a result, 2018 was a record year for the agency with 59 novel drugs approved, six higher than the previous record set in 1996. In addition, it approved or tentatively approved 1,021 abbreviated new drug applications.
