Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2d5a7e/bahrain_pharmaceut) has announced the addition of the "Bahrain Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q4 2009" report to their offering.
Bahrain Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, pharmaceutical associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Bahrain's pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.
From BHD44mn (US$114mn) in 2008, BMI forecasts that Bahrain's pharmaceutical market will expand to be worth BHD61mn (US$160mn) in 2018. While the market will remain small in absolute terms, rapid value growth, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8% and a favourable political economic and business environment mean that the country is likely to increasingly feature in drugmakers' Middle East and Africa (MEA) strategies.
In the Q409 Business Environment Rating for the 17 countries of the MEA region, Bahrain ranks eighth. The potential returns from the market are constrained by the island's population of just 1mn. However, a strong regulatory structure and stable political climate create a relatively low-risk business environment.
The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) member states already work together on a number of regulatory fronts and hope to deepen this collaboration in the coming years. At present, the GCC operates a unified import tariff system, as well as a system of collective tenders for group purchasing of drugs and vaccines. These tenders are an important way for multinational drugmakers to supply the Bahraini market. Healthcare is provided free of charge by the government to all citizens of Bahrain. Although, along with a number of other Gulf states, Bahrain has recently excluded non-Bahrain nationals from the public healthcare system. As a result, expatriates have to purchase private insurance - either personally or through their employers - or pay out-of-pocket for their treatments.