Drugs sector ‘must help poor’

Investors have told pharmaceuticals companies they need to focus far more on emerging economies and the poor if they are to become more sustainable.

A new study produced as the result of a year-long dialogue involving the pharma industry, institutional investors and global health experts says drugs firms ‘need to rethink their Western-oriented blockbuster dependent business model’ and instead concentrate on ‘how they plan to deliver sustainable returns in rapidly growing emerging markets.’

Specifically, the report, Pharma futures 3: emerging opportunities, recommends that business models need to change from those developed for Western markets with robust health infrastructures to models ‘that account for the distribution and pricing realities of emerging markets’. This means looking at product affordability and more effective ways of distributing drugs in poor countries.

The document is the latest instalment from Pharma Futures, an organization formed by pension funds in 2003 to research the impact on investment of the challenges facing the pharma industry. The investors participating in the project have €7.2bn (£6.5bn, $9.6bn) invested in healthcare companies.