Research and Markets: This Essential Q3 2010 UK Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Forecasts Spending Increasing In the UK to US$260.3bn in 2014, Equating to a 6.06% CAGR

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5bf08e/united_kingdom_pha) has announced the addition of the "United Kingdom Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2010" report to their offering.

“United Kingdom Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2010”

Business Monitor International's United Kingdom Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, pharmaceutical associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the United Kingdom's pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.

In BMI's Business Environment Ratings for Q310, the UK has maintained its fifth place out of the ten Western European markets surveyed. The ratings criteria serve to reinforce our estimation of the country's potential due to a stronger emphasis on the regulatory environment, which we see as a major factor affecting the business environment for drugmakers. Globally, the UK is in 12th position. However, while the UK is one of the most developed pharmaceutical markets in the world, emerging and pressing economic and political issues, as well as its strict pricing and reimbursement regimes, have formed major clouds on the pharmaceutical markets horizon. Still, given the high price of medicines and the high per-capita drug expenditure levels, medicines will continue to bring in substantial income for companies operating in the country.

Following the formation of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat Party coalition in the aftermath of the UK's parliamentary election, which left no party with an outright majority, the incoming government can now tackle the bloated fiscal deficit of GBP170bn (US$245bn). Although the Conservatives plans to cut the deficit have been the most aggressive, the Liberal Democrats were also keen to begin consolidating public finances sooner than the outgoing Labour government had proposed. As such, the first priority of the new administration has been to roll out major spending cuts in a bid to close the fiscal gap and calm bond market investors, which have kept a wary eye on UK public finances.

The UK's new government has identified drug prices as an area of focus and aims to implement a new value-based medicine pricing system that will replace the current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), which is due to come to an end in 2014. BMI notes that the implementation of a value-based pricing system will eradicate the UK's position as one of the few markets in the world where drugmakers are free to set prices for their medicines. At the same time, the government has suggested a reform of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which evaluates the cost effectiveness of drugs, and the establishment of a Cancer Drugs Fund.

Cancer patients in the UK are to be offered personalised cancer care for the first time. Up to 6,000 patients a year will have their tumours analysed for genetic defects, allowing for more targeted and personalised treatment and sparing patients for whom a particular treatment would be ineffective from side effects. This profiling will also allow alternative treatments to be considered at an earlier stage. BMI believes this will not only be welcomed by patients, but is a positive financial development as personalised treatment regimes will ultimately lead to National Health Service (NHS) cost savings as the burden of cancer in the UK is high. BMI calculates that the UK's health expenditure reached GBP126.1bn (US$194.0bn) in 2009. We forecast healthcare spending increasing to GBP148.4bn (US$260.3bn) in 2014, equating to a 3.31% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in GBP terms and 6.06% in US dollar terms. Healthcare expenditure as a percentage of GDP is reasonably high, at 9.0% in 2009, and annual per-capita expenditure is US$3,144, in line with per-capita expenditure in other G7 countries.

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