Generics market in Southeast Asia set for growth

With its fast-growing, young population and uninsured majority in Southeast Asia, countries in the region represent a great opportunity for generics in the pharmaceutical industry.

Rhett Hemedes, head of OTC marketing, Great Eastern Drug Co, one of the speakers at CPhI - Generics Southeast Asia Summit 2013, notes: "Generics in Southeast Asia, while relatively small in size are growing rapidly as access to medicines is improving. This means that competition will intensify and the business will become tougher for local players and a continuing opportunity for the multinationals. Operations will be critical given the increasing availability of unbranded generics and price erosion as well as the increasing regulatory requirements. With the bigger markets with low access to medicines such as Indonesia opening up, the competitive environment will expand with the total number of players expected to increase at a lower marginal profit, hence the need for operational efficiency."

To reach value of $3.9 billion by 2016