'India, China Hold Key to Drug Firms' Global Expansion' (Asia)
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
Global pharmaceutical companies will have to expand into China and India to compete in the expanding world pharmaceutical market, concludes the new pharmaceutical report "Pharma 2020" by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Companies need to begin testing drugs with human patients earlier in the developmental process, says Pharma 2020, to avoid failure during expensive late-stage clinical trials. In the year 2020, China will be either the second or third largest pharmaceutical market in the world, predicts the report. In addition, up to 20 percent of all worldwide drugs sales will occur in the developing countries of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. The report predicts that the global pharmaceutical market will total $1.3 trillion in 2020. The most competitive companies will be focusing on many lower-cost medicines, rather than on billion-dollar blockbuster drugs. (Click here for more