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Loraine shared her work on competition law to improve market efficiency with the ultimate aim of reducing medicine prices.
While much of her presentation concerns government as regulator, little was said about government as
market participant. For example, in certain circumstances, governments may wish to become a market player
in the provision of pharmaceutical services whether the private sector is unable or unwilling to do this work.
As biotech companies in emerging markets move from imitation to innovation, they will reach a decision point – focus on local health demands or develop medicines for industrialized countries with larger markets. The authors suggest that biotech companies can meet both demands through an entrepreneurial model. However. the logic of the entrepreneurial model is such that it drifts to markets with significant demand particularly where this is coupled to a population with disposable income. How do we ensure biotech companies in emerging markets continue focusing on local population needs? Given the logic of the entrepreneurial model, it would mean growing the economies of developing countries and the size of the medicine market. It would also require ensuring that economic growth is broadly shared and that poverty reduction and lifestyle improvement initiatives succeed. Through this disposal income and local demand will grow to support local biotech companies and enable their ongoing focus on local demands. Improving medicine access through the logic of the entrepreneurial model is inevitably a long-term pursuit. It depends on economic growth and market size to incentivize local biotech companies. In the interim, there are other avenues to improving access such as supply chain interventions, improving financing mechanisms, and restructuring the regulatory environment.
Global health or global wealth? by: Rahim Rezaie and Peter A Singer
Bangladesh can export drugs worth Tk200 billion a year if the local medicine makers upgrade their facilities to a level that’ll enable them to do contract manufacturing for foreign pharmaceuticals, experts said Sunday. Drug manufacturing is becoming costly in the highly regulated western market, prompting major pharmaceutical companies to contract out drug making to companies in low-cost countries.
“Contract manufacturing is one of the major growth areas in global drug industry. And Bangladeshi companies can be one of the major beneficiaries of the fast growing sector,” said ABM Faroque, president of Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals Society (BPS). “The country’s top 10-12 drug makers have state-of-the-art drug plants and if they upgrade their facilities further, they’ll be in a position to sign lucrative contract manufacturing deals with foreign companies,” said Faroque, also a professor of pharmaceutical technology at Dhaka University.
Read more, source: The Financial Express
Asia has experienced rapid growth in the biomedical sciences and pharmaceutical fields. Within the last decade, Singapore has established itself as a global scientific powerhouse, attracting leading companies. The city-state has built up a reputation for biomedical sciences innovation in addition to being a global financial and business hub.
Singapore’s biomedical sciences industry contributes 4.1% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), manufactures about US$14 billion worth of patented pharmaceutical products and medical devices for global markets, and employs more than 16,000 people. More than 50 companies conduct R&D in Singapore, including drug discovery and development, translational and clinical research, and medical technology innovation. In 2008 alone, R&D expenditure in biomedical sciences exceeded US$715 million.
Read more, source: Drug Discovery and Development
SINGAPORE’S biomedical manufacturing output grew at a robust pace last year to reach $21 billion and employed 13,000 people, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said yesterday.
According to Spring Singapore, last year’s production outpaced the previous year’s $19 billion and a value-add of $10.6 billion.
Last year, the sector attracted cumulative capital of $1.2 billion – the funds that firms invest over the entire period of their project – putting Singapore on track to become Asia’s biomedical centre, the EDB said. Once completed, these projects will create more than 1,600 jobs.
Singapore’s strategic location makes it a prime spot for companies seeking to tap into the region’s fast-growing healthcare markets.
“As Asia’s leading bio-cluster, Singapore is well-positioned to help biomedical- sciences companies accelerate their innovation and capitalise on Asia’s growth story,” said Mr Julian Ho, EDB’s assistant managing director.
The biomedical manufacturing cluster, which includes pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical-technology products, has been hailed as manufacturing’s saviour in previous quarters.
Manufacturing’s 39.4 per cent rebound in January over the same period last year – its biggest climb in 26 years – was spurred by an almost 50 per cent surge in biomedical output, particularly of pharmaceutical ingredients.
Pharma also came to the rescue last year, when manufacturing numbers bounced back in the second and third quarters largely due to Influenza A (H1N1), said DBS economist Irvine Seah in an earlier interview with my paper.
The medical-technology sector has also done its part in pulling up productivity, said Mr Lee Hock Wee, senior manager for industry analysis unit at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology.
Its 1.8 per cent projected rise during last year’s downturn comes on the back of healthy growth over the last nine years.
Government efforts to attract multinational corporations to set up operations here have contributed to med-tech’s resilience, Mr Lee added. “Strong overseas demand for therapeutic respiration apparatus, surgical instruments and cosmetic dental fittings is likely to continue driving output here too,” he said.
The robust growth prospects have seen increased hiring across the biomedical manufacturing sector. Last year, about 900 jobs were added, bringing total headcount to over 13,000. Meanwhile, companies like 3M and Welch Allyn are tapping into Singapore’s scientific and engineering know-how to develop cost-effective products.
According to the EDB, more than 4,300 researchers are carrying out biomedical- science R&D in 50 companies and 30 public-sector institutes, expending more than $1 billion annually.
In the same period, leading Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda opened its new regional headquarters to work with its regional clinical-trial coordination centre and R&D centre in Singapore. Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, which recently opened its first vaccine plant in Asia here, is training the local manpower required to run its facilities.
Medical-technology firm Medtronic also announced it will build its first-in-Asia cardiac-device global manufacturing facility in Singapore.
Globally, the industry faces several challenges, including the need to improve research-and-development productivity.
It must also navigate diverse cultures when doing business in this part of the world.
Source: AsiaOne News
