Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f5218a/japan_pharmaceutic)
has announced the addition of the "Japan
Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2010" report to their
offering.
“Japan
Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2010”
Japan 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 Japan's
pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.
The value of Japan's pharmaceutical market in 2008 was US$85.8bn.
Pharmaceutical sales in Japan are forecast to grow by a modest 1.3% in
local currency terms during the 2009-2014 period. This rate of expansion
is below the 2004-08 CAGR of 2.38% and underlines the mature nature of
the market. Meanwhile, drug market sales in US dollar terms will
contract by 1.6% in 2009-2014, as the yen weakens. The short-term
currency outlook is positive, however, benefiting foreign drugmakers
operating in the market. In 2009, the authors forecasted a healthy 11%
increase in drug sales in US dollar terms. But, at the same time, the
strong yen has dampened the gains for three of Japan's biggest
drugmakers - Takeda, Daiichi and Eisai - all of which have invested
heavily in overseas markets in recent years. Overexposure to foreign
territories coupled with sluggish growth for their main portfolio of
prescription medicines, as a result of the looming patient cliff, has
left these companies particularly sensitive to exchange rate
fluctuations.
Meanwhile, the prescription drug sector was boosted in the last quarter
by the approval by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) of
three blockbuster drugs from foreign pharmaceutical firms. UKbased
GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix will become the first cervical cancer vaccine
available on the market, beating its great rival Gardasil, marketed by
US-based Merck. However, offering some consolation, Merck has received
approval in Japan for its diabetes drug Januvia (sitagliptin), which had
sales of US$491mn in Q309. Finally, US-based Wyeth's blockbuster
pneumococcal vaccine Prevanar has also been cleared for marketing.