The Hindu Business Line : Pharma majors bank on India, other emerging markets: Study

New Delhi, Nov. 13 Global pharmaceutical companies are banking on growth from emerging countries, including India, to tide over the current economic slowdown, according to a report from Ernst & Young.

Survey findings indicate that in many cases, drug companies are counting on emerging markets to extend the life of mature products as well as to develop new markets for their ethical products. The emergence of a middle class with growing disposable incomes in rapidly expanding countries with large populations (such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, Korea, Mexico) represents millions of new customers who will demand improved healthcare.

Executives surveyed by E&Y discussed the importance of having an emerging market strategy and many mentioned that their companies have extensive expansion plans underway to increase market share in emerging markets.

Mr Hitesh Sharma, National Leader & Partner, Healthsciences Practice, Ernst & Young India said, “Growth in emerging markets like India will play a key role in current times for the pharma industry. Companies need to consider how they increase the speed of change by prioritising, allocating resources effectively and exercising rigor in project management. The finance function and risk and control functions will take a more prominent role and will be tasked with driving more sophisticated financial strategies more specifically targeted on value creation.”

Current global financial conditions and the threat of a broad recession have accelerated the timetable for implementing change, as the industry confronts lower corporate stock prices and an increasingly cost-averse customer. These and other findings were released on Thursday in Progressions, Executing for success: powering new business models, Ernst & Young’s bi-annual global pharmaceutical report. The report reveals findings from a global survey of senior executives from 15 major pharmaceutical companies.

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