New margins for Pharma success in an emerging world

The future of established pharma lies in the emerging and growth markets, but it’s not the profits from these regions that will make the difference. Nick Stephens, chief executive of RSA, a global life sciences executive search and interim management specialist, argues that it is emerging lessons that will help to maintain margins in the developed world.

The future of the life sciences industry lies in the emerging and growth markets but not in the way that many imagine. The bottom-line is that there is insufficient money in emerging and growth markets to buy medicines at prices that will sustain traditional pharmaceutical industry margins. The industry will have to learn how to: innovate better, trial quicker, regulate faster, develop and manufacture more cost effectively to allow the distribution of more affordable products, says Mr Stephens.

“We live in interesting times. Influential themes include the practice of open innovation, stratification and all it entails in terms of drug diagnostic combinations and personalized medicine, plus new concepts of wellness and outcomes-based payments. The one thing missing from this cornucopia of new sciences and markets are the Asian solutions, and that’s what I’m looking for,” he notes.