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The Peru Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Provides Independent Forecasts And Competitive Intelligence On Perus Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Industry

Posted on: Monday, 11 June 2007, 09:00 CDT

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c59309) has announced the addition of "Peru Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q4 2006" to their offering.

For Peru's pharmaceuticals and healthcare market, the main development over the past few months has been the September 2006 launch of a new five-year healthcare plan named 'Salud para todos' ('Healthcare for all'). The key objectives are increasing the percentage of institutional childbirths in rural areas, decreasing infant and perinatal mortality and decreasing chronic malnutrition in children younger than five. As part of the plan, the Ministry of Health announced a number of urgent measures, which were due to be introduced within 180 days. These included the joint purchase of medicines in conjunction with the Social Security services (EsSalud), armed forces and police; the re-equipping of medical establishments; and wide-reaching vaccination programmes.

As things stand, the Peruvian pharmaceuticals market is currently approaching its value of 1997, at around US$495mn, making the market one of the smallest in Latin America. Until very recently, regulatory conditions were considered unacceptable by international standards, and although there has been significant reform in terms of intellectual property (IP), other areas of market regulation are poorly conceived and enforced.

The Peruvian Congress has endorsed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US. The treaty introduces significant new terms relating to the protection of confidential data submitted to regulatory authorities. Meanwhile, the government has also created tougher requirements for generic products regarding clinical proof of therapeutic equivalence, as well as safety and efficacy, in relation to original products. Despite this positive progress, so-called 'similar' drugs -- branded, non-bioequivalent copies of local origin -- account for as much as 40% of the market in value terms. There is little evidence that the new measures will force the withdrawal of inferior quality products in the short term.

In terms of the breakdown of the market, the formal prescription market accounts for approximately 85% of sales, although it should be noted that some 55% of Peruvians routinely self-medicate with pharmaceuticals that are designated as prescription-only. Partly due to a thriving retail market in the major urban centres, the over-the-counter (OTC) sector accounts for the remainder of sales. BMI's valuation for the generics sector -- comprising equivalent, off-patent medicines -- is some US$24mn for 2005, although this total is expected to more than double by the end of the forecast period.

The small size of the Peruvian pharmaceuticals market and its poor regulatory environment have prompted BMI to rank the market seventh out of eight leading Latin American markets surveyed. Although the US FTA is a positive signal for the future, the more sophisticated markets of Mexico and Brazil are expected to attract the majority of pharmaceutical sector investment in the region over the forecast period. That said, it is still early days, but Peru's new five-year healthcare plan could signal a new period of sustained government investment.

Companies Mentioned:

-Sanofi-Aventis

-Merck & Co

-GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

-Novartis

-Pfizer

For more information, visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c59309

Source: Business Wire

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