Boehringer Ingelheim Releases White Paper On Middle East Opportunities
Boehringer Ingelheim recently released a white paper indicating that, while there are significant challenges in the Middle East region, there is still a large potential for sustainable growth in the pharmaceutical industry. Boehringer Ingelheim’s white paper focused on a set of recommendations for the region which the company’s researchers ultimately believe will drive growth in the area. Saudi Arabia accounts for over half of the region’s pharmaceutical market, at a value of $5.1 billion in 2012. That number is expected to trend upward.
The company’s first recommendation is to increase the amount of foreign investment in the pharmaceutical industry, to shift the burden of cost of care from the public sector to the private sector, which has greater potential to adjust to rising costs long-term. In order to ease this shift, the researchers made a second recommendation to liberalize laws created in order to limit foreign ownership in pharmaceutical companies. For long term success, nations in the Middle East would also have to ease price controls on imports.
Karim El Alaoui, managing director and head of prescription medicine for the Middle East at Boehringer Ingelheim, believes that certain countries are going to see a boost in market share. “The pharmaceutical industry in MENA witnessed considerable progress over the years on the back of favorable demographic and economic factors, alongside strong government support for healthcare. “Expansion of pharmaceutical sales in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Levant countries is projected to outpace the overall regional growth rate, thus translating into a higher market share of these countries at the regional level going forward.”
Source:
http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/mena/media/press_releases/white-paper.html