Singapore, Dec 16, 2011: According to London based analysis company, Companies & Markets, the Development in the High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (HPAPI) and Biogeneric drugs is boosting the growth of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) market. There has been a paradigm shift in the use of innovative drugs to that of low-cost API drugs after the economic recession, thereby causing a positive impact on the overall growth of the API market. In order to keep abreast with this change, API manufacturers are applying various novel technologies to reduce the processing time in order to yield more production.
The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) forms the most vital part of every formulated end product, and is an important part of the whole pharmaceutical industry. The overall API market was valued at $101.08 billion in 2010, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.9 percent from 2011 to 2016.
There has been an increase in influence of API players from emerging economies such as India and China after the economic recession. The recession restricted the growth of Innovative sector in developed economies such as the U.S and Europe, as the Innovative sector requires huge investments. This has helped fuel the growth of Generics market in Asian countries such as India and China.
The API market is facing a period of unprecedented growth as market dynamics have undergone a major change with the expiration of patents pertaining to global blockbuster drugs in the U.S. The consequences of the economic crisis has hit the Innovative drugs market hard, with less budgets allocated by the major players for the R&D of Innovative drugs. This has led to drying up of pipelines for new drugs, and therefore the market for generic drugs is quickly growing. Thus, the patent expiry factor is slated to drive the API market for the coming years.
European countries such as the U.K., France, and Germany are promoting the use of Generics by providing incentives to the doctors for writing prescriptions relating to generic drugs and also to the pharmacists if they offer the generic equivalent of prescribed drugs. Thus, generic API market is expected to grow till the year 2016 as compared to the Innovative API Market.
The HPAPI market is driving the API market growth globally at a fast rate. As these compounds are extremely effective in the treatment of cancers, respiratory disorders, and hormonal imbalances, the HPAPIs market is mostly driven by the growth in the oncology therapeutics market worldwide. The global HPAPI market is valued at $8,900 million in 2011, growing at a CAGR of 8.3 percent till 2016.
Mergers and collaborations are the strategies that have been noticed across the API industry. Newer market entrants are causing threats to the existing small and medium manufactures, leading to high competition. To overcome these challenges, companies are now forming joint ventures for sharing the technology to manufacture API drugs. The key to survive in the market for SMEs is joint ventures.