Western Europe remains attractive for Pharma, but challenges ahead, says BMI; focus on Switzerland

The Western Europe region scored a total of 64.5 out of a 100 in Business Monitor International’s Fourth-quarter Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Business Environment Ratings (BERs). The attractiveness of the region to pharmaceutical companies stems from the fact that its countries are key revenue sources for 'big pharma,' particularly for companies selling high-end products, as per-capita spending is substantially higher than in emerging markets.

However, it is BMI's view that drug companies will face many challenges in Western Europe over the next decade, including the need to reduce fiscal deficits, the patent cliff, added regulatory hurdles and increasingly scrupulous cost-effectiveness assessments of new drugs all factors that will influence the risk and reward scores assigned to markets in the region. Deficits remain a key challenge for the majority of governments across Europe. New fiscal austerity measures in the eurozone in an attempt to calm bond markets have reinforced our weak growth outlook, adding to existing problems of over-leverage.

Swiss drug market set to decline in 2010