Medical Sales Representative

Life Sciences Sector

India?s Pharmaceutical Industry

India's drugs and pharmaceuticals industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 per cent to reach a turnover of`2.91 trillion (US$ 47.06 billion) by 2018.

The domestic drugs industry, which is valued at`1.6 trillion (US$ 25.87 billion) at present, according to Care Ratings, is also expected to grow in the local market with aggressive rural penetration by drug makers, increased government spending on health, and growing health awareness among people.

India exports pharmaceutical products to more than 200 countries. Pharmaceutical exports are expected to cross the`1 trillion (US$ 16.17 billion) mark this year. "The growth would be around 15 per cent and is driven by formulation exports," said Dr PV Appaji, Director-General, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil). During 2013-14, pharma exports stood at`90,000 crore (US$ 14.55 billion). Out of this, the share of formulations was 71 per cent.India currently exports drug intermediates, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Finished Dosage Formulations (FDFs), bio-pharmaceuticals, and clinical services across the globe.

The domestic formulations market stood at an estimated INR 722 billion in FY14, registering a growth of 6 percent over FY13. The y-o-y growth rate has seen a decline over the last 2 years. The decline is attributed to the reduction in the number of patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, the switch to generic drugs and fewer number of product approval. Sales of chronic therapy drugs grew faster than the sales of acute therapy drugs and the sales of anti-diabetic, cardiovascular (CVS) and neuro/CNS therapeutic drugs recorded the fastest growth. There are more than 500 manufacturers in the organized and unorganized segments. Top ten players account for around 40 percent of the total market share. Of the total number of pharmaceutical manufacturers, about 77 percent produce formulations while the remaining 23 percent manufacture bulk drugs. Indian companies are currently focusing on in-licensing their products and alliances/JVs due to a slowdown in product approvals. OTC segment is emerging as a source of high growth in the short to medium-term. Realization improvement is seen as another key focus area. Increasing number of medical representatives across segments coupled with improving quality of deliverables has led to an increase in sales numbers. Growth of chronic therapeutics is on a rise with changing demographics and lifestyle patterns. There are about 40.8 million patients diagnosed with diabetes in India and is expected to grow to 70 million by 2025. General economic slowdown is not likely to impact the chronic therapeutics segment as major proportion of patients in this segment belongs to upper strata of society.