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European Pharmaceutical Contractor
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Stormy Waters
The pharmaceutical industry is a one off. The fact that it develops life-saving products has enabled it to benefit from practices that in other industries would be regarded as anti-competitive. Protected by patenting rules and strengthened by M&As that have spawned 'super corps' capable of squashing competition, it has remained largely unshaken by the world events that have taken place outside its own city walls.
But all this could be set to change. Over the next few years competition from other manufacturers is set to explode as the patents for many 'blockbuster' drugs reach their expiry date. Smaller manufacturers are already challenging the profits of pharmaceutical companies by producing generic versions of their products and selling them at bargain prices. Another pressure is the increased legislation put on manufacturers to monitor quality and safety even more carefully, adding to the cost of manufacture. Furthermore their 'corporate responsibility', which has afforded them so much protection in the past, is also pressurising them into cutting the costs of providing medical products to poorer countries.
Pressure on the industry will be intense for the foreseeable future as industry players try to create new ways of developing profitable products and getting them to market faster than ever. Also they must balance the production of high margin 'lifestyle' drugs against the production of 'life-saving' drugs that must be delivered at lower cost, and fulfil new obligations to meet stricter regulatory standards.
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