Even though the pharmaceutical industry has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years, there are many emerging trends that may challenge this. And one of these factors is the growth of emerging markets such as India, Brazil, Russia and China, to name a few. With economic growth rates reaching double digit percentages in some of these countries, there is no doubt that they will be major players in the global marketplace of the future. That is why it is no surprise that this recent economic growth is not only catching the attention of key financial players all over the world, but catching the attention of multinational drug companies as well.

As the global pharmaceutical industry continues to grow, some key trends are showing that this growth could soon taper off. Many pharmaceutical consulting firms have seen these trends coming for along time. Trends like the loss of marketing exclusivity, as well as lower contributions from newer products, along with the growing prevalence of generic drugs all over the world, the global pharmaceutical marketplace could be facing a cruel reality. Many pharmaceutical consulting firms are recognizing this trend, and are seeing a pharmaceutical industry in the future, that is very different from the one of the last 50 years.

There is no doubt that the pharmaceutical landscape of the future will be vastly different from the one we know today. For example, back in 1999, before the turn of the century, the top leading pharmaceutical markets in the world were the United States, Japan, and Europe, accounting for nearly 75% of the growth in the global pharmaceutical marketplace. Now compare that to today, where these major markets only account for nearly 45% of the global pharmaceutical growth rate, whereas the emerging markets have jumped from 8% to nearly 30% in this same period. And this trend is only suspected to grow.

While Europe and the US and Japan, are seen as the major players in the pharmaceutical industry, the rest of the world is catching up fast. With the economic downturn in the United States and Europe affecting the growth of these two previously booming economies, emerging economies like China and India are expected to be the beneficiaries in the long run. With their two economies growing at a much faster pace than the US and Europe, there is no doubt that they will be major players in the pharmaceutical industry of the 21st century. Pharmaceutical consultants believe the two main questions will be if drug companies will pick up on this trend, and start marketing more vigorously to emerging markets, or if they will ignore it and continue doing business as usual.



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