Global pharmaceutical sales increased 7.8% to $1.08 trillion in 2011. Pharmaceutical sales in BRIC countries grew 22.6%. The US, Europe’s “Big 5” (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) and Japan, which PricewaterhouseCoopers classifies as the main pharmaceutical markets, accounted for 59% of sales. PwC predicts that these markets will increase their shares of generics sales over the next decade as drugs go off-patent, which it estimates will result in a loss of $33 billion in global sales in 2012 and $21 billion in 2013. More than one-third of sales for Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories and Roche are now outside of these markets. PwC also predicts an increase in the amount of companion diagnostics, which will likely be required for all expensive medicines for small populations by 2020. There are currently 460 medicines for rare diseases in clinical trials, 23% of which are for cancer, 17% of which are for blood cancer and 15% of which are for genetic disorders.

Source: PwC