Foreword Clinical Trials Destination APAC! The global pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a transformation resulting in slowdown of growth due to factors such as launch of innovative specialty products, regulatory, and pricing pressure etc. In the last 2-3 decades, drug development has evolved into a global phenomenon, and organisations had to reinvent their business models to stay relevant in this highly regulated and competitive market. Rising research costs coupled with loss of revenue due to blockbuster drugs going off patent and lack of abundant in-house Research & Development (R&D) talent pool have forced pharma companies to rely on Contract Research Organisations (CROs) for their clinical trials. Outsourcing has thus become an integral part of the value chain for the pharmaceutical industry, specifically for clinical trials. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, the global CRO market is expected to be US$64.58 billion by 2021, with a CAGR of 12.8 per cent from US$35.41 billion in 2017. Americas leads the global CRO market thanks to a well-established healthcare sector, followed by Europe where growth is driven by favourable policies, rise in healthcare spend, and most importantly increase in funds for research. Interestingly, the CRO growth in Asia Pacific (APAC) has been the fastest with an expected CAGR of 20 per cent by 2021. In development phases, drug discovery is the dominant segment for the CRO market while oncology is the largest segment in the therapeutics category.
Factors contributing to this CRO market growth in APAC are the region’s growing pharma industry, access to large patient pool, favourable regulatory environment, strong Intellectual Property (IP) protection and low legal barriers, and abundance of talent. Quality of clinical data produced in the APAC region is comparable to global standards. Japan and Singapore are ranked in top 10 countries for stronger IP Intellectual Property rights protection and legal environment. The global CRO market, which was historically fragmented, has shown signs of consolidation owing to an increased consolidation. Around five CROs control one-third of the global market. Key factors such as large treatment-naive population, availability of highly skilled resources, robust clinical infrastructure among others have put APAC as the most favoured destination for clinical trials. The cover story of this issue features an article on analysis of Asia Pacific CRO market. In this article, the author outlines the factors that contributed to growth of CRO in this region while dissecting the market to highlight encouraging trends country wise.
Prasanthi Sadhu Editor
www.pharmafocusasia.com
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