Healthcare

Despite growth in volumes (driven by higher life expectancies and development of emerging countries), health insurance deficits and the expansion of generic drugs have put pressure on pharmaceutical companies' operating margins.

They are now forced to deal with lower selling prices, especially on their blockbusters, coupled with increased costs linked to their ceaselessly growing investments in R&D.

To better meet these new challenges, industry leaders are stepping up their consolidation efforts:

• R&D resources pooled by major pharmaceutical groups
• Accelerated race to file patents, with the development of new drugs to rebuild a portfolio of protected products
• Major cost restructuring efforts, particularly via sales team layoffs

These trends are liable to continue:

• With persistent vigilance on costs, for example by developing new information technologies used by practitioners
• With acquisitions of medium-size pharmaceutical companies in order to gain new patents or increase their presence in emerging markets