The Pharmaceutical Market: New Zealand

Espicom's in-depth pharmaceutical market reports are ideal for executives wanting to understand the key drivers in pharmaceutical markets and have access to a wealth of statistical data. Each report opens with an outlook section that provides analysis of the market, 5-year market forecasts, national data projections, market outlook and key developments such as regulation, pricing/reimbursement, intellectual property, health facilities and government policy. The report also provides extensive background information, population trends, health status, health expenditure, organisation & administration, hospital services, medical personnel, healthcare development, market access information, trade data for raw materials and finished products and essential industry contacts. Included with the report are 3 free quarterly updated outlook reports, enabling you to keep up to date with market developments for a year.

With a population of just over four million, New Zealand is a small but highly developed medical equipment market in the South Pacific. Much of the population is concentrated in the major urban areas of Auckland, Christchurch and the capital, Wellington.

There is very little domestic production of medical equipment. The one major player, Fisher & Paykel, operates in a few niche areas and anyway tends to concentrate on export markets. The domestic market is heavily reliant on imports, therefore. The USA and Australia are the major sources of imports.

The healthcare sector is funded largely by the government, which is responsible for around 78% of expenditure. Healthcare provision, however, is much more evenly split between the public and private sectors.

The past 20 years has seen a series of reforms aimed at improving efficiency. Market-inspired reforms of the hospital sector in the 1990s did not lead to any widely-perceived improvements, but did create a major debt problem for the public sector. The 1999-2008 government reversed much of these reforms through the creation of District Health Boards, but the debts have remained. The reelection of a National government in 2008 may indicate a renewed focus on efficiency within the health sector, although major changes in spending levels are not envisaged.

New Zealand was due to create a merged regulatory system for devices and drugs in 2007, through the merger of Medsafe with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Agency. This has been abandoned for the time being, however, due to a lack of support in the New Zealand parliament.