The Indian government’s plan to extend market-based pricing to all products listed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) will spark a price war and impair the recent expansion of the oncology therapeutics market, states a new report from business intelligence providers.
The firm’s latest report forecasts that revenue for India’s oncology therapeutics market will climb from US$172m in 2012 to US$239m in 2018 – a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.6%. However, the previous seven-year period (2005-2012) witnessed growth at a more impressive CAGR of 13%, with market value more than doubling from US$73m to US$172m.
The new report, which covers the combined market for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) therapeutics, states that the introduction of market-based pricing for all 348 NLEM drugs will prompt pharmaceutical companies to dramatically cut prices in an attempt to maximize profits in a newly devalued sector. Domestic firm Cipla and Swiss drug maker Roche have already announced substantial price cuts for several key anti-cancer products.
The Indian cancer therapeutics industry is highly fragmented, with the top companies occupying just 48% of the market in 2011. Roche is number one in terms of market share, with products such as Herceptin, the blockbuster breast cancer drug, helping the firm claim a 24% share. The only India-based companies to make the top five are Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Natco Pharma, with respective shares of 10% and 5%.