Better-than-expected outlook for global pharma sales, says IMS Health

Helped by a stronger-than-expected US market, global pharmaceutical sales are forecast to be stronger than had been expected. Leading health care market research group IMS Health says that the value of the global pharmaceutical market in 2010 is expected to grow 4 %-6% on a constant-dollar basis, exceeding $825 billion, driven by stronger near-term growth in the US market.

As recently as six months ago, IMS forecast that US prescription drug sales would decline for the first time since it started tracking the data in 1957, by 1%-2%.

The forecast, the leading annual industry indicator of market dynamics, predicts global pharmaceutical market sales to grow at a 4%-7% compound annual growth rate through 2013, and takes into account the impact of the global macro-economy, the changing mix of innovative and mature products, and the rising influence of health care access and funding on market demand. Global pharmaceutical market value is expected to expand to $975+ billion by 2013.