A new ‘layer’ of long-awaited Japanese healthcare reforms were enacted as of April 2008. They are aimed at increasing the use of generic drugs to 12% by 2010 (from 2007 level of 5.2% by value). Japan currently lags far behind other regulated markets in terms of generic use: 16.8% in Japan versus 54% in USA, 52% in UK, and 55% in Germany, by volume. Key factors that contribute to poor generic uptake in Japan are: 1) low margins received by…
Structural reforms lead to weeding out unhealthy competition During 2006 and 2007, the India Rx market bucked the trend of the previous five years by growing at 18% and 13% respectively vs an average growth of 8-9% during 2001 to 2005. This upward trend is the result of several reforms that have helped reduce fragmentation by weeding out unhealthy competition from unorganized and small players. By 2007, approximately 2000 units (40% of the unorganized sector, in terms of business units)…
Why all the fuss? The market for innovative biologics exceeded $43b in 2006 and is growing at ~12% annually. With costs for treatment exceeding $50,000/yr for cancer drugs like Erbitux or Avastin, and no clear path for generic alternatives, biologics have occupied a comfortable position in an industry facing mounting generic competition. However, the tide may be turning - Europe already has a biosimilar regulatory pathway in place and the US appears poised to follow. The cost of prescription drugs is…
the next President of the United States has the potential to reshape the landscape of health care in this country. Accordingly, the primary debates have featured discussions ranging from how to fix Medicare to whether to adopt “HillaryCare”, and almost everything in between. As the campaigns head into the potentially decisive March 4th Texas and Ohio primaries, we examine the leading candidates’ stances on issues of relevance to the pharma industry, and examine how these policies could impact Global Pharma,…
The launch of our updated website provides a fitting occasion to assess the future of the sector that has been Mehta Partners' primary occupation for over 20 years. Perspectives is a new platform for our team members and other opinion leaders in our network to share their views on the important events of the day that will shape the future of the BioPharma industry worldwide. Through this column we hope to provide insight and context for those developments. We invite…