Market for Pharmaceuticals in Brazil, Russia, India and China

The four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have a combined population of 2.7 billion, roughly equal to half the world total. Continuing strong economic growth, especially in China and India, means that these economies are becoming very large, and may overtake the world's developed economies in terms of absolute size over the next 20 years.

Wealth levels remain very low, however; GDP per capita in Brazil and Russia is barely 10% of that in the G6 (USA, Japan, Germany, France, UK and Italy). China and India are poorer than this. All the BRIC countries contain areas which are wealthier than the average, such as China's eastern coastal cities. But no BRIC country has developed the per capita wealth necessary to create a modern comprehensive healthcare system as found in the G6.

The BRIC countries have large numbers of hospitals and beds, but the level of provision per thousand population is generally far lower than in developed countries. Levels of medical staff are generally low, and quality is often an issue.

While the BRIC markets can therefore legitimately be called large markets, they cannot be called rich. Per capita spending on healthcare and on pharmaceuticals is a very long way below that in the G6. This gap is likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

One shared characteristic of the BRIC countries is an historically poor level of intellectual property protection. India introduced product patent legislation for the first time in January 2005, although it is far too soon to see how this will work out in practice. The other markets continue to fall below TRIPS requirements, with regard to enforcement if not national rules themselves. Brazil, India and China are all WTO members, although Russia is not.

Following a comparative overview, the report provides for each country:

PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET OUTLOOK

• Current market size
• Unique 5-Year market projections
• Market outlook
• Market structure
• Market developments, covering recent and impending developments with respect to key issues such as regulation, health facilities and government policy
• Key national data projections

BACKGROUND DATA

• Population data, including growth trends and age structure
• Demographic indicators detailing principal causes of death and morbidity

HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

• Healthcare development - health reform & policy
• Health expenditure - expenditure by source of funding and type
• Hospital services - hospital data such as beds by type, region, specialty, patient admissions, occupancy and surgical procedures
• Outpatient care
• Medical personnel - data on healthcare professionals covering such areas as doctors by specialty, nursing staff and dentists

ACCESSING THE PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET

• Market size
• Regulatory environment
• Patent protection & intellectual property rights
• Pricing & reimbursement
• Distribution channels
• Domestic production
• Statistical data on imports and exports for raw materials and finished products