There is likely to be an increase in spending by the pharmaceutical industry for 2016 due to an upsurge in demand. The long-term outlook for pharma is mostly positive, with projected average growth of 4.3% between 2015 and 2019, totaling $1.4 trillion in global pharma sales by 2019. The US, Brazil, Russia and China collectively make up 50% of global pharma revenues, but due to volatile economic conditions in these countries, health care budgets and reductions in out-of-pocket expenses, pharma growth has generally slowed down. Growth is expected to pick up from 2016 to 2019, although regulations that countries have implemented to manage health care costs (i.e., price cuts and pro-generic policies) are posing challenges to R&D-based pharma firms. Due to costs and pricing, there will likely be more consolidations in pharma in general. Through revamping portfolios, making more targeted deals, cutting costs, and focusing on therapeutic areas and geographic markets that are proven to be high performing, pharma will be able to position itself for growth over the next five years.

Source: Deloitte 2016 Global Life Sciences Outlook