The API market is feeling the squeeze as many traditional drugs go off patent and generics take over. Competition in the market remains strong as more developing nations build facilities but can they guarantee quality and supplies?
The total revenue generated by the global active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) market was estimated to be US$108.6bn in 2011. According to Global Business International (GBI) Research, this figure is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4% between 2011 and 2017, and will generate expected revenues of $167.1bn in 2017.
However, a breakdown of where this growth will come from reveals that revenues from biotech-based ingredients will outstrip those of the more traditional synthetic chemical APIs, says GBI. Synthetic API revenues contributed 82.7% of revenues for the global API market in 2011, dominating the market. However, a significant number of expected patent expiries mean that the synthetic pharmaceutical market is seeing revenues increase slowly, while competition from the biopharmaceutical market continues to grow. Revenues from the biotech API market have shown growth at a CAGR of 17.4% during 2005–2011, and this success is expected to continue in the future, reducing the dominance of the synthetic API market.
Looking at a geographical breakdown, the API market in the Americas was worth the lion’s share of $46bn in 2011, with North America accounting for over 88% of this total. It is, however, expected to grow at a modest CAGR of 4.4%.
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