The global pharmaceutical market has seen an accelerated growth over the last few years, from $934.8 billion in 2017 to a predicted $1170 billion in 2021, according to The Business Research Company*. Whilst this growth of 5.8% is a slower pace than that of of medical equipment and healthcare service sectors, the healthcare market as a whole is growing at around 7% year on year.
With rates accelerating each year, there is one question that healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical businesses are asking – how do pharmaceutical companies compete in a growing industry? This article will be investigating the factors that affect the pharmaceutical market and the ways in which a pharmaceutical company can measure up to competitors.
The Factors That Affect The Pharmaceutical Market
When discussing how competitive global pharmaceutical markets are, it is essential to consider the factors that affect the industry as a whole. These include:
- Consumer attitudes – this can refer to attitudes towards businesses, as well as willingness to use alternative therapies and distrust surrounding drugs
- Disease prevalence – this relates to population size, age, genetic inheritance and behaviour and the prevalence of disease within groups
- Affordability – either surrounding drug prices and consumer income
- Government and insurance company policies – this can affect reimbursement and who the payer is. There are also government policies that determine and affect regulation, which can be a considerable barrier to new product launches
- A major supply-side factor – the availability of a treatment, which may be a matter of drug discovery, development or quantity, can be a big factor
Each of these factors are difficult to harness and control, but by keeping them in mind and ensuring that they are topics that are discussed when looking at positioning, market research and product ideation, pharmaceutical companies can increase their chances of being successful within a growing industry.
How Do Pharmaceutical Companies Compete Against Each Other?
As well as considering the factors that create a risk to pharmaceutical companies and new product launches, there are steps that can be taken to measure up against other pharmaceutical companies within the industry.
Market research is crucial to any business, not just within the pharmaceutical field, and can advise the procedures your company should take, as well as showing how your competition are processing, marketing and distributing. This is something that a pharmaceutical consultation with Clarity Pharma can help with and will prove very beneficial to any pharmaceutical business.
Pharmaceutical companies can slightly reformulate their new drugs to keep their products patent-protected, but another tactic for competing is launching orphan drugs. These are drugs for rare diseases and have greater exclusivity for pharmaceutical companies, and are good for keeping patients, insurers and the government engaged.
For any more advice on how your pharmaceutical company can compete in the growing global market, please do not hesitate to contact Clarity Pharma. We have over 20 years within the pharmaceutical manufacturing field and offer strong commercial expertise to any pharmaceutical company looking for advice.
*Source: https://www.marketresearch.com/Business-Research-Company-v4006/Pharmaceutical-Drugs-Global-Musculoskeletal-Disorder-11518658/?progid=90731
