Rising personal incomes, growing economies and health reform in more than a dozen emerging pharmaceutical markets is causing a shift in global drug spending. In fact, if sales trends continue, drug sales in emerging markets could match that of the United States, the world’s largest single market, by 2016.
In the pharmaceutical industry, the emerging markets are China, Brazil, India, Russia, Argentina, Egypt, Mexico, Indonesia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Product availability varies from country to country based on priorities of the drug sponsor, the complexities of the regulatory environment and budgets. But DPP-IV inhibitors for diabetes, HIV antivirals, HPV vaccines and antithrombotic agents are generally available in most developed and emerging markets. Innovative drugs for treating central nervous system (CNS), cardiovascular and drugs for treating the immune system are not yet widely available in emerging markets.
Continued disparity in health care spending will continue. The United States and European nations will spend $609 per person on average per year, while emerging economies – with two-third’s of the global population – will spend $91 per person in 2016.