The IMS World Review 2013 took place today at the Buenos Aires Auditorium in the Recoleta neighbourhood. The event had a special flavour this year because IMS is celebrating 40 years in Argentina.
The IMS World Review 2013 took place today at the Buenos Aires Auditorium in the Recoleta neighbourhood. The event had a special flavour this year because IMS is celebrating 40 years in Argentina.
Patricio Silva Young, IMS general manager for the southern region, opened the annual conference, which brings together the regional connections in the pharmaceutical industry.
Silva Young welcomed New Zealander Murray Aitken, IMS’s senior vice-president of Healthcare Insight, who offered a promising outlook going forward to 2017.
Aitken explained that, while the global pharmaceutical market had growth expectations of between 3.5 and 6.5%, the so called pharmergent markets, which include most countries in Latin America, were expected to grow by between 11 and 14%.
He also said that the pharmergent economies would account for 31% of sales for the next five-year period.
Within this context, Argentina is expected to continue to rise up the rankings: positioned 19th in the world in terms of sales in 2012, it is predicted to reach 14th place by 2017.
Aitken also highlighted another significant piece of data: despite the continual introduction of new innovations, the 20 leading labels were “old products” launched, for the most part, between 11 and 20 years ago.
He noted that, at the same time, the approval of new molecules had reached levels unseen in the past decade with a total of 39 new approvals in 2012, of which 30 focused on specialist care and 9 on primary care.
Another noteworthy talk at the event in Buenos Aires came from Juan Manuel Santa María, consulting and services director for IMS Health southern region. He expanded on «Dynamics and Perspectives in Latin America and Argentina».
Emphasizing that the region as a whole was sailing with a favourable wind, he noted that during 2012, the young continent saw growth of 15.8%, placing it well above the rest of the world for the same period: the US skidded 1-3%, Europe shrank by 0.2%, and Japan saw marginal growth of 0.7%.
Santa María noted that Brazil continued to be the motor of Latin America, accounting for half of the continent’s sales.
Focusing on the host country, meanwhile, the expert said that local sales in 2012 saw a 26% increase measured in local currency, and a 15% increase in US dollars.
This increase was principally connected to price, followed by an increase in volume and the make up of the mix.
Looking forward, the specialist stressed that the market was undergoing a period of change and that this offered great opportunities for those companies that knew how to prepare for the new climate.
One of the changes that he mentioned is a phenomenon that has been observed worldwide: consolidation and increased concentration in the acquisition of medications in the pursuit of better prices on the buyers’ part.
