Generic Drugs Getting Popular In Canada

The pharmaceutical market is currently being driven by several factors, such as patent expiry of several blockbuster drugs, lower costs, cost containment measures by the government, and rapidly ageing population, according to a market research report that provides an exhaustive analysis on the generic market in Canada.

Canada represents with a huge potential for generics one of the largest markets for pharmaceuticals in the world. The report says, in 2007, generic drugs accounted for more than 46% prescriptions and 19% sales out of the total pharmaceutical market.

The report thoroughly evaluates the factors that distinguish Canada from all other generic markets both in positive and negative ways. A major factor that differentiates the Canadian generic market from the US and most European markets is the comparatively high price of generic drugs. This allows manufacturers to fetch better margins from their drugs, and is a major reason which is attracting foreign players to enter this market.

Currently, drugs against chronic diseases occupy most of the pharmaceutical market, with cardiovascular drugs holding the top spot. However, strong growth is expected in other chronic segments also, particularly in cancer, diabetes and Erectile Dysfunction.

The low cost of generic drugs, coupled with billion dollar drug patent expiries, is expected to enforce the generic market to continue its double-digit growth in the next five years.

The penetration of generic drugs is rapidly increasing in the Canadian pharmaceutical market as generic drugs are expected to account for nearly 26% of the entire pharmaceutical sales by 2012.

According to another research, nearly 5 million people in Canada will be above 65 years by 2011. Therefore the demand for drugs specifically those for chronic diseases are definitely going to be increased.

It has been observed that Generic drugs substitution is preferred by more and more pharmacists. The top four generic companies presently control more than 70% of the generic market, but the market is expected to undergo more fragmentation in future.

It has been expected that the projected growth of generic drugs at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14% during 2007-2012 will surpass that of pharmaceutical market at a CAGR 7.6% during the same period.