North America is expected to continue to lead global pharmaceutical sales in the year 2022, with $635 billion expected that year, according to a March 2019 report from biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
The United States, China, Japan, Germany and France led the world pharmaceutical sales market in 2018, with the United States having 47.2 percent of all pharmaceutical sales. The global pharmaceutical drug market was worth $934.8 billion in 2017 and is expected to triple in size by 2060 on an inflation-adjusted basis, predicts global investment banking boutique, Torreya.
Worldwide, growth in the pharmaceutical market during 2017-2022 will be driven by increasing revenues in developing markets, such as Africa (7.3 percent company annual growth rate, or CAGR), the Commonwealth of Independent States—a regional intergovernmental organization of 10 post-Soviet republics formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union (eight percent CAGR), the Indian subcontinent (10 percent CAGR) and Latin America (7.8 percent CAGR).
Established markets, like North America, will also show significant growth during that time period, fueled by access to high value drugs, healthcare awareness, high per capita expenditure on healthcare and high GDP of the region and resulting in a 6.4 percent CAGR.
The European Union is projected to generate $280 billion by 2022, with Southeast and East Asia expected to sell $206 billion worth of pharmaceuticals that year. Market growth in Asia Pacific is fueled by the increasing affordability of drugs and low-priced generics, the rise of GDP per capita in the region, government programs to support healthcare and rapid urbanization.
Market growth in China is expected to remain below historical levels with a 4.9 percent CAGR expected during that time period, due to a continued slowdown in the major hospital sector. However, there is high growth expected for the cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory drug markets in China given the disease burden in the Chinese population.
At the global level, pharmaceuticals are segmented into therapeutic areas, with drugs for musculoskeletal disorders leading the way. This market was worth $130.2 billion in 2017. Cardiovascular drugs ($129.6 billion) and oncology drugs ($125.9 billion) also fuel growth in the pharmaceutical marketplace.
