Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Insight RSS Feed

BMS Likely To Outperform In Immuno-Oncology (Americas Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: If successfully developed and marketed, Bristol-Myer Squibb (BMS)'s investigational combination immuno-oncology therapy will potentially be a leader in the market for skin cancer treatments, outperforming similar medicines from Merck & Co and Roche. However, although anticipation of positive trial results from the combination therapy is improving investor confidence, BMS will continue to be outperformed by Roche in light of its poor emerging markets strategy which continues to hinder revenue growth.

Pharmaceutical Market To Post High Double-Digit Growth (Middle East & Africa Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00 GMT

The potential for returns on pharmaceutical investment in Ethiopia are great given the large population, favourable demographic and epidemiological trends, as well as its position as a platform to expand into Kenya and Tanzania. However, we highlight the ease with which counterfeit medicines can enter the country due to its proximity to China and India and low per capita medicine spending of US$4.2 - the lowest in East Africa - as risks to drugmakers' revenue streams.

Innovative Drug Launches Prove Difficult At All Stages (Middle East & Africa Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00 GMT

Although PhRMA is encouraged by the Algerian government's intention to improve its pharmaceutical policies, it is evident that the Ministry of Health continues to make the entire process of launching patented medicines, from registration to importation, difficult for innovative drugmakers. While these policies are clearly bad for innovative drugmakers, the import restrictions and volume control policies are also having a negative effect on local medicines supply. As medicines supply is expected to remain highly reliant on imports, continuing these policies will have an increasingly negative impact on medicines consumption in Algeria.

Status Maintained On PhRMA's Priority Watch List (Middle East & Africa Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: In Lebanon, poor intellectual property protection of innovative medicines is based on the ease with which the Ministry of Health allows generic equivalents to enter the market. Approving generic drugs through unfair use of commercial data and obtaining bioequivalence through a checklist is indicative of the fast-track registration procedure and reduced list of requirements for generic drug approvals. While the interpretation of data disclosure is likely to remain a source of discontentment between innovative drugmakers and the Lebanese government, the announcement of a new test laboratory to be opened by the end of 2014 will see better quality control mechanisms in place to test bioequivalence and longer generic drug approval times which is good for innovative drugmakers.

Bidding War Intensifies For Adcock Ingram (Middle East & Africa Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: Increasing competition in the bid to partially or completely buy out South African drugmaker Adcock Ingram, as well as strong revenue growth outlooks for the company in 2013 and 2014, will continue to boost investor confidence in the company's future potential. However, we believe it will continue to be overshadowed by rival Aspen Pharmacare.

Credit Rating Movement Won't Impact Drugmakers Significantly (Middle East & Africa Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: A minor downgrade of Egypt's credit rating will not have a significant impact on the cost of borrowing for local drugmakers and subsequent overall cost of pharmaceutical production. However, further depreciation of the Egyptian pound in 2013 will see the cost of importing key pharmaceutical components rise. This will increase overall pharmaceutical production costs and reduce company profit margins in a fixed retail price market.

Asia Pacific: Strong Opportunities, But Not Without Challenges (Asia Pacific Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: Revenue earning opportunities for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies operating in the Asia Pacific region are largely driven by spending growth in developing countries. Governments in the majority of developed countries are cutting expenditure due to economic pressures. Despite strong growth opportunities in Asia Pacific we highlight that, given the fragmented nature of the region, pharmaceutical firms will have to use innovative strategies to gain market access.

Central Asia Pharmaceutical And Healthcare Round-Up (Emerging Europe Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: With the exception of Kazakhstan, the Central Asian republics remain largely insular. The significant barriers to entry for multinational drugmakers and the level of state involvement compound these markets already limited prospects. The dependence on foreign aid and charities also detracts drugmakers' revenue earning opportunities. We therefore suggest that drugmakers focus on Kazakhstan in the medium term, as it presents far fewer risks than its neighbours.

Small Victory For Local Drugmaker (Middle East & Africa Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: We expect Namibia's negative pharmaceutical trade balance to widen as demand for medicines continues to be met by imports and poor local manufacturing sees exports contract in the medium term. The recent Good Manufacturing Practice licence received by local drugmaker Fabupharm Products to produce approved international medicinal products is a small success for the local industry. We stress, however, that controlling production costs will be difficult, although necessary, if the company wishes to remain competitive in government tenders.

2012 Imports Down, But Growth Trend Set To Continue (Emerging Europe Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: While drug imports may have declined in 2012, we believe the innovation gap between multinational and Russian drugmakers will continue to favour the multinationals. Russia's shifting demographics and considerable non-communicable disease burden will drive demand of novel therapeutics. Although there are moves to restrict imported drugs from state procurements on the horizon, we believe this will mostly affect generic medicines; patented drugs from multinationals will continue to be imported. The introduction of universal national drug insurance in 2015, which will contribute towards paying the cost of medicines, should accelerate import growth in the long term, provided the Russian state makes no further interventions in the market.

State-Owned Drugmaker Signs Off Joint Venture With Multinationals (Emerging Europe Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: Drugmakers in Emerging Europe must contend with import restrictions as countries including Russia and Ukraine attempt to develop their own nascent pharmaceutical sectors and reduce their reliance on imported medicines. In both these markets, consumer demand, rather than state purchasing, has driven growth in pharmaceutical sales, with imported medicines continuing to dominate private purchasing in value terms. However, drugmakers wishing to sell high-margin, innovative therapeutics will find few consumers with such disposable incomes. Therefore, joint ventures are becoming increasingly common in the region as drugmakers vie for access to public sector tenders.

Strong Market For Domestic Pharmaceutical Firms (Asia Pacific Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: We maintain our positive outlook for the Chinese pharmaceutical market in 2013. Domestic pharmaceutical firms achieved strong revenue growth in 2012, in line with our bullish view for the market. Given the rising demand for medicines and better healthcare, the expansion of the National Essential Drug List and the government's commitment to the provision of medical services, we believe this strong growth will continue. Potential pricing pressures are a downside risk to our view, as the government will strive to implement price-containment policies, and thereby prevent a significant increase in expenditure.

Strong Disease Burden Poses Healthcare Financing Problems (Asia Pacific Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00 GMT

We highlight the difficulty Myanmar will face in healthcare financing, given the country's high burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The situation is made worse by the majority of its population living in rural areas where there is limited access to healthcare. In addition, because neighbouring South East Asia nations are committed to boosting healthcare services, we believe that private healthcare providers are more likely to invest in these other countries than Myanmar, as they present lower risk for investors.

Seeking Growth Beyond The Domestic Market (Asia Pacific Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00 GMT

Emerging markets will drive industry growth. The importance of emerging markets to large multinational drugmakers cannot be overstated. BMI's Pharmaceutical Expenditure Model reveals that five-year compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) in traditional markets, such as the US, Western Europe and Japan, are either in low-single, or in some cases negative, figures. Meanwhile, the US dollar five-year CAGRs for the main emerging markets - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are expected to post high-single figure or double-digit increases.

Central and Eastern Europe Pharmaceutical Trade Update (Emerging Europe Pharma & Healthcare Insight)

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:00 GMT

BMI View: Trade data from UN Comtrade highlights the challenging conditions present in 2012, as imports fell in countries affected by the eurozone decline, such as Turkey and the Czech Republic. Elsewhere, the data shows that Kazakhstan's economic emergence has accelerated pharmaceutical spending, and we expect this to continue in the medium term. Meanwhile, Turkey's position as a manufacturing hub will contribute to pharmaceutical export growth, although it will still lag behind Western Europ in output for the medium term.