According to new data, the pharmaceutical industry is beginning to stabilize after the financial crisis, with an estimated CAGR of 6% over the next 6 years, driving prescription sales in the industry to $1.2 trillion by 2024. Orphan drug sales are forecast to reach $262 billion by 2024, making up 20% of the prescription drug market. Oncology therapies are estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12% over the next 6 years. with sales expected to hit $233 billion in 2024 These high figures are thought to be driven by expanded accessibility to medicines around the world, as well as launches of novel medicines, such as gene and cell therapies.

Total R&D expenditures for pharmaceutical companies are expected to increase 3.0% each year to total $203.9 billion in 2024. Roche leads in pharmaceutical R&D, forecast to spend $11.7 billion on R&D, with Johnson & Johnson and Novartis rounding out the top 3 with $10.0 billion and $9.0 billion in R&D expenditures. The increase in R&D is at least partially linked to increasing FDA approvals, with 55 approved New Molecular Entities (NMEs) and biologicals, an increase of over 100% from 2016, when only 27 NMEs and biologicals were approved.

The top therapy segments in the industry by 2024 will be oncology, anti-diabetics, with estimated sales of $59.5 billion in 2024, and anti-rheumatics, which have forecast sales of $56.7 billion in 2024. The segment most likely to experience a decline is antivirals therapy, of which sales are expected to fall 0.9% by 2024 to total $39.9 billion.

Source: EvaluatePharma