Pharma industry is expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2020

Record breaking new drug approvals, a hefty product pipeline and dramatically improved R&D productivity that has kept expenditure growth below sales growth prove that the industry is turning a new corner, according to Evaluate’s World Preview 2014, Outlook to 2020 report.

The report focusses on the fact that, for the first time in the pharmaceutical industry’s history, the consensus forecast of worldwide prescription drug sales is set to exceed one trillion dollars, reaching $1,017 billion by 2020, equating to an average growth of 5.1% per year from 2013 to 2020. Since the publication of last year’s World Preview report, there has been an upward revision in annual growth from the already healthy 3.8% (CAGR 2012 to 2018) predicted last year, to 4.4% growth per year (CAGR 2012 to 2018) this year.

Paul Hills, report author and Evaluate’s head of operations, said: “This much improved growth outlook comes as welcome news after two years of actual sales stagnation. While the patent cliff is now but a distant memory, a new debate over drug pricing is stirring up controversy. This will only intensify as the industry continues to shift away from primary care and new technology waves offer innovative products that potentially take costs out of healthcare.”