Pharmaceutical Industry Overview, 2017

Overview

Global pharmaceutical industry is of a complex nature involving intensive research & development (R&D), capital expenditure, drug approval, marketing and compliance of quality and standards of the drugs. Yet the industry has witnessed tremendous growth in the past decade owing to continuous R&D in pharmaceuticals to cater the global ageing population, changing lifestyles, and increasing number of chronic diseases. 

Moreover the globalization and urbanization has led to environmental disturbances causing increase in demand for new health supplements and improved medications as per the geographic location and population age group. Together these factors are driving the growth of pharmaceutical industry all over the world, with major contribution from North America region. Further, the growth and advancement of pharmaceutical industry can be explained under three major profiles i.e. the innovation in the industry, savings by the reduction in access to medical care and lastly the R&D ecosystem.

Global Population 

Global population is directly impacted by the pharmaceutical industry and the rising population is opening up new areas of pharma to be discovered. Global population by 2020 is expected to reach nearly 7.6 billion. As the population is also ageing at a fast pace it is estimated by 2020 9.5% of the world population will be over 65 years of age. The elderly population are the major targeted area for the pharmaceutical companies as they are largest consumer of medicines. The pharmaceutical improvements has led conversion of few terminal illness into chronic conditions impacting the longevity of life. The Asia Pacific region accounts for high elderly population and thus the pharmaceutical companies are attracted to establish their manufacturing units in this region. The Singapore pharmaceutical market is growing at a CAGR of 6.39% during the forecast period of 2017-2025. Whereas, India pharmaceutical market is witnessing huge wave of pharmaceutical companies entering the country, such that India is the largest supplier of generic medicines all over the world.  

Innovation: Medicines Changing the Path of Diseases

In the fast developing world, new diseases are being identified and so their medications are under process of development. Many of the diseases from the past known to be deadly are now easily manageable and even curable. Innovation is headed towards evolution of targeted medicine to cure the underlying cause of the disease. And biopharmaceutical is the new trend in the industry, as such the FDA in 2016 has approved 27 new medicines. 

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among the 50 years above population. In the past 40 years treatment of cardiovascular disease has advanced rapidly that the death rate has reduced by 60%. Another fatal disease has been the HIV/AIDS, which in current scenario is manageable and curable. Post 1995 the death rate due to HIV/AIDS has declined sharply by 89%. And the similar scenario is shared by few types of cancer. In present times the targeted therapies and immunotherapies are witnessed to replacing the traditional methods of treating cancer such as chemotherapy and radiation.

Further, the researchers are routing novel scientific technologies and spearheaded research to evolve advance therapeutic devices for the patients. Nearly 7,000 medicines are currently under development globally, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy for blood cancers, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) pathway for migraines, SMAD7 blockers to treat Crohn’s disease and most importantly is the approach for blocking the BACE1 enzyme to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Savings: Reducing Cost of Using Medical Care

The advancement in medicines has potential to decline the access to costly healthcare facilities. The availability of medicine to cure the disease from roots and thus improving people health will make people to avoid expensive healthcare services. The cost incurred by US to treat chronic diseases amounts to 90% of the nearly USD 3 trillion which is alone spent on health care every year. Therefore, effective use of medicines have the opportunity to not only improve the health of people but also decrease the spending on the healthcare, such that 8% of US healthcare expenditure can be saved annually.

R&D Ecosystem

The swift pace of scientific advancements and increasing understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of disease are thus propelling the development of new treatment pathways and medicines to cures patients. Moreover the cost incurred in the R&D, time taken and complex hurdles have been increasing and thus the R&D and manufacturing processes are getting complex and complicated. Moreover development of a drug to enter the market takes nearly 12-15 years completing its rigorous R&D process. Of the total medicines under clinical trials only 12% are estimated to be approved by FDA and only if approved the investments become fruitful. Yet the pharmaceutical research companies are continuously thriving to realize the committed pipeline and harness advanced and scientific technologies to make the medicines reach out to the patients. 

The pharmaceutical industry encompasses most advanced and intensive researches. The industry witnesses nearly 5 times investment as in other manufacturing industries. Biopharmaceutical is the leading industry in the world in terms of R&D. Biopharmaceutical is the trend in healthcare industry and thus it is experiencing intensive competition at global level. US has the largest healthcare and biopharmaceutical industry. And the major competition is not alone from Europe but also from Brazil, China, and Singapore who are establishing ground for the growth of biopharmaceutical industry in near future. 

Further, the biopharmaceutical companies are using innovative ways for successful clinical trials and developing biomarkers to bring out efficient outcomes in the patients. New advances are though bringing new opportunities and hopes but also new complexities and uncertainties. Yet the R&D process is determined to evolve for medical discovery, providing medicines at an affordable prices and improving the lives of the patients.