The New Nation - Internet Edition

BUSINESS WIRE, Dublin, Ireland

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2008" report to their offering.

Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Bangladesh's pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.

The Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q308 is the most recent addition to BMI's Industry Survey and Forecasts Series. It integrates data and narrative from market research firms, industry associations and company presentations to provide objective assessment of one of Asia Pacific's most promising opportunities for drug makers.

We calculate that the country's pharmaceutical market had a valuation of US$700mn in 2007 and that a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.79% through to 2012 can be expected. This rapid market expansion is primarily due to greater uptake of medicine throughout this densely populated country, but also through appreciation of the data against the US dollar, population growth and increased government healthcare expenditure, among other factors.

2008 is proving a challenging year for drugmakers in Bangladesh. A round of price cuts is scheduled after a hiatus of two years. Sales forces of Bangladeshi drugmakers are growing exponentially, which results in significantly higher expenses.

Meanwhile, the appreciation of both the Indian rupee and the Chinese yuan is boosting the cost of raw materials.

Eskayef was best performing company in Bangladesh during Q108, with sales up 21.12% on Q107, according to IMS Health. This compares favourably to the next fastest growing drugmakers: Renata (+16.19%), ACI (+16.17%) and Drug International (+13.79%), Incepta Pharma (+6.77%) and Square Pharma (+2.32%). Not all Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies performed so well. Beximco Pharma witnessed a huge 42.04% drop in sales, while Acme recorded a 4.89% decrease.

The greatest challenge facing the industry is the end of the patent-free regime in 2016, when local pharmaceutical companies will have to cease the production, distribution and sale of medicine that have intellectual property protection elsewhere in the world. Forward thinking local drugmakers will have to adapt their product portfolio as necessary or suffer a steep drop-off in sales. However, the global 'patent cliff' in 2011 will mitigate this watershed.