The Emerging Pharmaceutical Pendulum

By Clive Riddle, July 12, 2012

Conventional wisdom tells us that pharmaceutical growth is not the beast it once was. Growth has decelerated and been tamed to the point of 3-4 percent this year, due to a variety of factors including the lingering economic downturn, patent expirations with the corresponding conversion to generics, and a dip in patient demand due to increased cost sharing requirements and coverage concerns.

The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics now tells us the pendulum is poised to swing back the other way, and they are forecasting 5-7 percent growth in 2016. However, this resurgence is significantly projected to be driven by emerging versus developed markets.

Their just released report: The Global Use of Medicines: Outlook through 2016, “found that annual global spending on medicines will rise from $956 billion in 2011 to nearly $1.2 trillion in 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate of 3-6 percent. Growth in annual global spending is forecast to more than double by 2016 to as much as $70 billion, up from a $30 billion pace this year, driven by volume increases in the pharmerging markets and an uptick in spending in developed nations.”

Murray Aitken, the Executive Director of the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics tells us, “as health systems around the world grapple with macroeconomic pressures and the demand for expanded access and improved outcomes, medicines will play an even more vital role in patient care over the next five years. The trillion-dollar spending on medicines we forecast for 2016 represents a rebound in growth that will accentuate the challenges of access and affordability facing those who consume and pay for healthcare around the world.”

Their report also projects that around the globe:

• Spending on medicines in developed nations will increase by a total of $60-70 billion from 2011 to 2016, following an increase of $104 billion between 2006 and 2011.
• Spending in the U.S. will grow by $35-45 billion over the next five years, representing an average annual growth rate of 1-4 percent
• In Europe, growth will be in the -1 to 2 percent range due to significant austerity programs and healthcare cost-containment initiatives.
• The Japanese market for medicines is forecast to grow 1-4 percent annually through 2016, slightly lower than the rate during the prior five years and reflecting biennial price cuts scheduled for 2012, 2014 and 2016.
• Overall, patent expiries in developed markets will yield a five-year “patent dividend” of $106 billion, reflecting reduced brand spending of $127 billion offset by $21 billion in higher generics spending
• Annual spending on medicines in the pharmerging markets will increase from $194 billion last year to $345-375 billion by 2016, or $91 in drug spending per capita. Generics and other products, including over-the-counter medicines, diagnostics and non-therapeutics, will account for approximately 83 percent of the increase.
• Pharma manufacturers will see minimal growth in their branded products through 2016. The market for branded medicines will experience flat to 3 percent annual growth through 2016 to $615-645 billion, up from $596 billion in 2011.
• In the major developed markets, branded medicine growth will be severely constrained at only $10 billion over the five-year period due to patent expiries, increased cost-containment actions by payers and modest spending on newly launched products.
• The pharmerging markets are expected to contribute $25-30 billion in branded product growth over the same period. Off-invoice discounts and rebates will offset about $5 billion of global branded medicine growth.
• Global generic spending is expected to increase from $242 billion in 2011 to $400-430 billion by 2016, fueled by volume growth in pharmerging markets and the ongoing transition to generics in developed nations.
• Global launches for New Molecular Entities (NMEs) will rebound during the next five years, as 32-37 NMEs are expected to be launched per year through 2016. Between 2011-16, 160-185 NMEs are expected to launch, compared with 142 between 2007-11.
• Biologics are expected to account for about 17 percent of total global spending on medicines by 2016, as important clinical advances continue to emerge from research.