Abstract
Includes 3 quarterly updated outlook reports!
At US$796, France has one of the highest pharmaceutical per capita consumption
levels in the world. The pharmaceutical market is also one of the world' s
largest, with total spending valued at US$49.7 billion in 2009.
Overall market growth has been comparatively low at around 5.0% per annum and
is expected to average 2.7% in the medium term with government
cost-containment programmes exerting downward pressure on reimbursable
products. The hospital market has been much more dynamic with growth rates
twice this figure in recent years, although growth rates are now falling due
to greater regulatory controls in this sector and fewer innovative drugs
coming to market.
The underdeveloped generics market is undergoing rapid expansion boosted by
government incentives and the loss of patent protection for several
high-volume products. The stagnating OTC market has also started to expand as
a result of government moves to end reimbursement for a wide range of products
assigned a low medical value rating.
France is the third largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the world,
accounting for 7% of global pharmaceutical output. Many multinationals have
strategic manufacturing sites in France. However, the country is gradually
losing out competitively to other European countries with more attractive
business environments, such as Ireland, and to low cost producers in Eastern
Europe and South America.
The increasingly competitive business environment has resulted in many smaller
independent producers being acquired by multinational groups, recent examples
being the acquisition of Fournier Pharma by Solvay of Belgium and the
acquisition of Negma-Lerads by Wockhardt of India.
France has also lost ground in the field of pharmaceutical research with the
majority of multinationals preferring to concentrate their research efforts in
their home country or in the US. Oncology research remains one of the few
growth areas, due to the launch of a national cancer plan.
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