There are five critical global issues that will be impacting the future of the pharma industry.
These megatrends are, demographic shifts, shift in global economic power, accelerating urbanization, climate change, resource security, and technological breakthroughs
Adwait Bhagwat, Director – Advisory, PricewaterhouseCoopers, presented these ideas last week at the Parenteral Drug Association's annual conference in Las Vegas.
Explosive population growth is creating a demographic shift that means a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work moving forward, he said. The aging of populations also falls into this category, which has numerous implications on the global healthcare system.
A shift in economic power, means different areas in the world have different rules and regulations. There will be a greater need to involve R&D departments much earlier in the process of drug development.
As a result of this shift, experts predict there will be new partnerships, especially in the area of biosimilars, as well as many more mergers and acquisitions. This will allow companies to better serve the global community, especially when it comes to manufacturing.
Companies will also have to find creative ways to reach consumers as a result of accelerating urbanization. It will present new challenges to the supply chain and marketing departments.
Climate change, coupled with resource scarcity, will create a host of issues, according to Bhagwat, including temperature specifications when it comes to the cold chain.
Arguably one of the most disruptive megatrends will be technological breakthroughs. While this is generally a good thing, it is going to create a lot of competition, he explained.
The landscape of companies involved in the healthcare and pharma industries are going to change. There is going to be more technology, apps and biosensors that will be having a hand in healthcare.
