Thursday, December 08, 2011

7 steps for pharma in the years leading to 2020

The choices for pharma companies are two:
Change now and control your destiny
- or -
pursue business as usual and allow your fate to be controlled by others.





Executives and board members at pharmaceutical companies need to ask themselves: Which path will we take?


The global pharmaceutical industry is facing an unprecedented opportunity. Over the next decade, the market for pharmaceutical products will nearly double in size, reaching $1.3 trillion by 2020 to meet the medical needs of the aging global population and a surge in demand from emerging countries.

Yet, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in its “Pharma 2020” vision series, some pharma companies will never capture a share of this enormous market – because they continue to bank the future of their business on a model that will no longer exist.

The PwC reports says that anticipating and adapting to the changing dynamics in health care is the great challenge for the pharmaceutical industry. “It is becoming abundantly clear that maintaining the current course is no longer an option. Pharmaceutical companies are fast approaching a fork in the road, and they must choose a path: Will they focus on innovation and offer value in the form of more targeted drugs, with proven outcomes and a suite of value-added services around them? Or will they go after the commoditized mass market, driving revenue with volume?,” asks PwC.

Along the way, there will be winners and there will be losers. The winners will be those who have the courage to pick the right path and begin making changes in their business models now.

Here are seven major steps that PricewaterhouseCoopers believes that pharma companies can take in the years leading up to 2020.

  1. Look Beyond the Blockbuster Model
  2. Increase R&D Productivity
  3. Focus on Prevention, Not Just Treatment
  4. Make the Regulatory Process More Flexible
  5. Personalize the Distribution Chain
  6. Go Global
  7. Choose a Path

Read the details on each of these recommended steps in the full report at PwC Pharma-2020
If pharmaceutical companies undertake these steps, they will be better positioned to manage the seismic shifts that not only pharma, but all of the health industries will undergo by 2020. The changes will enable them to benefit from the opportunities that will emerge from globalization, new technologies and new business models.

Although these changes need to be implemented over a period of years, companies must start now.

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