Introduction

A number of factors have and will continue to impact pharmaceutical sales and profits going forward. As a result of rising healthcare costs, healthcare budgets are being stretched. Healthcare payers are also feeling the impact of the global economic downturn. As a result, payers are introducing a number of cost-containment strategies as well as tougher regulatory measures

Features and benefits

• An overview of drivers of rising healthcare costs
• Review the impact of the global economic downturn on the healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry
• Assess the growing cost-containment and regulatory pressures facing pharma
• An overview of the impact of the patent expiries on pharma together with the industry’s responses

Highlights

Aging populations, the growing prevalence of chronic disease, greater use of expensive treatments, and expanding public healthcare coverage are stretching existing healthcare resources. As a result of rising unemployment, healthcare payers are also feeling the impact of the global economic downturn through reduced funding via taxation.

In response, payers are introducing a number of cost-containment strategies, such as reducing healthcare budgets and implementing pricing and reimbursement cuts, as well as bolstering generic uptake. These measures, together with the increasingly tough regulatory environment, all have a negative impact on the pharmaceutical industry.

Branded pharmaceutical companies are set to lose approximately $100bn in sales due to the patent cliff and the resultant generic erosion of branded sales during 2010–15 in the seven major markets, while the industry is also feeling the effects of the recent global economic downturn both directly and indirectly.

Your key questions answered

• Evaluate factors driving healthcare costs in the developed and emerging markets, and how the economic downturn has impacted the healthcare landscape
• Gain insight into the impact that the patent cliff as well as growing use of biosimilars will have on branded pharma sales out to 2015
• Review the growing cost-containment and regulatory measures facing pharma, as well as the industry’s response to grow profitability going forward