Spain's pharma market recovery to drive revenue past $29 billion by 2020, says GlobalData

Following years of austerity-induced health care spending cuts and falling revenues, the Spanish pharmaceutical sector will soon turn a corner, with market value expected to demonstrate steady growth by the end of the decade, says research and consulting firm GlobalData.

According to the company’s latest report, Spain’s pharmaceutical industry is expected to continue on the path of declining revenue prompted by 2008’s global economic crash until 2014, when market value is expected to hit $24.6 billion. However, GlobalData believes that a growing demand for innovative medicines and an expanding elderly population will stimulate an upturn in pharmaceutical market fortunes from this point, with steady growth resulting in total sales of $29.4 billion expected in 2020.

In recent years, the Spanish health care sector has been subject to a number of cost-cutting measures – most notably the increased use of generic drugs. Rather than prescribing by brand name, doctors are now asked to state the active ingredient when writing prescriptions, while changes to pricing and reimbursement policies have also directly reduced pharmaceutical expenditure.