Factors impacting global pharma market growth in 2011

In 2011, the global pharmaceutical market, in dollar terms, benefitted significantly from positive currency effects. According to new data from health care advisory firm Decision Resources’ Pharmaview suite, global pharmaceutical sales grew year-over-year by a respectable 5.3% to reach $707 billion, compared with 3.6% year-over-year growth in 2010.

The relative weakness of the dollar in 2011 compared to 2010 played a large part in this growth, and many of the major drug companies, such as Pfizer, Abbott, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson all reported positive currency effects of between 2% and 4% in 2011.

However, the Pharmaview analysis finds that, with the industry entering a period of significant patent expiries, and with ongoing economic headwinds and cost-containment efforts by payers worldwide, future growth looks anemic at best. Over the next seven years, the global market is expected to record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just 2.1%, reaching $817 billion in 2018.