Pharmaceutical Drugs Market Definition
The pharmaceutical industry develops drugs to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent diseases. Pharmaceutical drugs are subjected to various laws and regulations that deal with patenting, testing, safety, efficacy and marketing.
Pharmaceutical companies produce pharmaceutical drugs made from active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and excipients.
Pharmaceutical preparations are drugs intended for human or veterinary use presented in their finished dosage form. Companies engaged in pharmaceutical preparations are involved in drug discovery and development, manufacturing, drug processing and sales and marketing of drugs for human or veterinary use. Tablets, ampoules, capsules, ointments and medicinal powders and solutions are the various pharmaceutical preparations produced by pharmaceutical companies.
Pharmaceutical Drugs Market Size
The global pharmaceutical drug market was worth $934.8 billion in 2017 and has grown at a CAGR of 5.16% during 2013-2017. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.78% during 2017-2021 and is forecast to be worth $1,170.4 billion by 2021. Aging populations, income growth especially in emerging economies and the high prices of new drugs are factors leading to steadily increasing per capita drugs expenditure.
Pharmaceutical Drugs Market Drivers
The Key drivers of the pharmaceutical drugs market include:
New Methods For Drug Discovery – Stem cells and organ on chip technologies are changing the way drug trials are being conducted. Organ on chips are micro-engineered biometric systems that simulates activities, mechanics and physiological response of organ systems. Drug trial processes such as target identification, validation, target based screening and phenotypic screening are being done through organ on chip and stem cell technologies. These technologies are considerably reducing the drug discovery costs and generating reliable predictions on drug efficiency and human safety. Therefore, low drug discovery costs and accurate results generated from these technologies is expected to drive the pharmaceutical drugs market.
Pharmaceutical Drugs Market Restraints
The key restraint on the pharmaceutical drugs market include:
High Costs of Drug Approval – Drug approval involves series of research stages and regulatory approvals that are often expensive. Drug approval process include about four phases of clinical trials and various stages of screening process with the regulatory body such as FDA. The costs of failed clinical trials is also high as clinical trial phases involves huge investments. According to Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, the cost of bringing a new drug from its conception to shelves is about $2.7 billion in 2017. This cost has increased more than 10 folds, with the cost of bringing a new drug to the market being $320 million in 1990s. thus indicating high drug approval costs, which affected the growth of the pharmaceutical drugs market.
Pharmaceutical Drugs Market Trends
Major trends influencing the pharmaceutical drugs include:
Early Rx-To-OTC Switch-Early Rx-to-OTC switch, or switching the product from prescription to non-prescription status, is a key trend in the dermatology drugs market. Traditionally, the Rx-to-OTC status conversion usually took place at a time nearing the patent expiry or after. However, forward-thinking companies are now looking at switching from Rx-to-OTC well in advance of the patent expiry of the drug. This helps the manufacturer to capitalize on the market opportunities for the product. Early Rx-to-OTC switching also provides an additional benefit as a way to recover all the expenses incurred on the product by the company. A key example from the dermatology OTC drugs market for an early switch includes butenafine hydrochloride (Lotrimin Ultra), an anti-fungal drug. The product was reclassified and switched to being an OTC drug in December 2001, long before its patent expiry (April 2017). It is used in the treatment of athlete’s foot, jock itch and ringworm infections.
Increase In Personalized Medicine - There has been an increasing push towards the development of personalized medicine. Personalized medicine is also referred to as precision medicine, the idea of which is to provide medical care according to patient’s individual characteristics, needs, preferences and genetic makeup. According to a survey by the Tufts Center, 94% of pharmaceutical companies have invested in personal medicine research. For instance, Bayer is investing in personalized medicine for the development of therapies for cardiovascular diseases.
Pharmaceutical Drugs Market Segmentation
The Pharmaceutical drugs market is segmented by specialty, and by geography.
By Specialty -
The pharmaceutical drugs market is segmented by specialty into
- a) Musculoskeletal Disorders Drugs
- b) Cardiovascular Drugs
- c) Oncology Drugs
- d) Anti-infective Drugs
- e) Metabolic Disorders Drugs
- f) Central Nervous System Drugs
- g) Genito-urinary Drugs
- h) Respiratory Diseases Drugs
- i) Gastrointestinal Drugs
- j) Hematology Drugs
- k) Dermatology Drugs
- l) Ophthalmology Drugs
Metabolic Disorders Drugs had the highest growth rate of nearly 11.59% during the historic period. The fastest growth in the historic period can be attributed to the growing diabetic population worldwide, and increasing academia-industry collaborations to develop new drugs for treatment of metabolic disorders.
By Sub-segment -
The musculoskeletal disorders drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Drugs For Rheumatoid Arthritis
- b) Muscle Relaxants
- c) Others
The cardiovascular drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Anti-hypertensive Drugs
- b) Hypolipidemics
- c) Anti Thrombotics
- d) Other Drugs For Cardiovascular Diseases
The oncology drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Blood cancer
- b) Breast cancer
- c) Cervical Cancer
- d) Lung cancer
- e) Colorectal Cancer
- f) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
- g) Prostate cancer
- h) Kidney Cancer
- i) Gastric Cancer
- j) Brain Tumor
- k) Pancreatic cancer
- l) Skin cancer
- m) Ovarian cancer
- n) Thyroid cancer
- o) Bladder Cancer
- p) Others
The anti-infective drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Antivirals
- b) Antibiotics
- c) Antifungals
- d) Antiparasitics
The metabolic disorders drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Anti diabetics drugs
- b) Anti-thyroid drugs
- c) Others (Hyperparathyroidism, Hypopituitarism, Hypoadrenalism)
The central nervous system drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Anaesthetics
- b) Analgesics
- c) Anti-Parkinson drugs
- d) Anti-Epileptics
- e) Other CNS drugs
The genito-urinary drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
Hormonal contraceptives
- a) Drugs For Hormonal Replacement Therapy
- b) Drugs For Infections And Others
- c) Drugs for Benign prostatic hypertrophy
- d) Drugs For Erectile Dysfunction
- e) Drugs For Urinary Incontinence And Overactive Bladder
- f) Drugs for Infertility
- g) Diuretics
The respiratory diseases drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Anti-Asthmatics And COPD Drugs
- b) Cough and cold Preparations
The gastrointestinal drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Antiulcerants
- b) Vitamin And Minerals
- c) Antacids
- d) Antiemetics And Antinauseants
- e) Antiobesity
- f) Antidiarrhoeals
The hematology drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Blood Products
- b) Anemia And Other Blood Disorder Drugs
The ophthalmology drugs market is segmented by sub-segment into
- a) Antiglaucoma Drugs
- b) Dry Eye Medication
- c) Other Ophthalmological Drugs (Retinal Disorders, Anti-Infectives/Allergy)
By Geography - The pharmaceutical drugs market is segmented into
- o North America
- o Western Europe
- UK
- Germany
- France
- Spain
- Italy
- o Asia Pacific
- China
- Japan
- India
- Australia
- o Eastern Europe
- o South America
- o Middle East
- o Africa
North America is the largest market for pharmaceutical drugs, accounting for 36.5% of the global market. It was followed by Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, and then the other regions. Going forward, Asia-Pacific and Middle East will be the fastest growing regions in this market.
Pharmaceutical Drugs Competitive Landscape
Major Competitors are:
- • Novartis AG
- • Sanofi S.A.
- • Pfizer Inc.
- • Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Other Competitors Include:
- • Johnson & Johnson
- • GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
- • Bayer AG
- • Teva Pharmaceuticals
- • Merck & Co.
