The global pharmaceutical industry is in the pink of health and developing fast. Its spiralling growth is spurred by the rising demand for healthcare, which is in turn fuelled by the rapid growths in population and cohort of ageing baby boomers, and the rising incidence of chronic diseases.

However, the performances of various markets have changed due to the interplay of myriad factors, such as “pharmerging”, patent protections, and mergers and acquisitions.

For instance, as the middle class cohort expands and life expectancies increase in “pharmerging” economies, like Mainland China, India, Brazil and Russia, their health conditions start mirroring that of developed countries like the US, bringing about changes in the growth patterns and rankings of these countries within the global pharma marketplace.

Though Pharma is the biggest job creator among the four key sectors of the healthcare industry, the rampant consolidation strategies adopted by large multinational pharmaceutical companies have substantially wrought negative impact on market conditions and hiring patterns of talent over the past year.

These changing industry trends have thrown up a slew of questions including:

How will industry players be impacted, in aspects such as the global sales of various classes of drugs, research and development spending, and hiring trends?

How has the large number of generic drugs going off-patent impacted the fast-growing generic drug sector, in comparison to that of the prescription drug sector? The over-the-counter drug sector has been flourishing, but will it continue to do so in light of these market changes?

How do the different countries in Asia rank in terms of the market size of total talent pool and talent who changed jobs? What is the talent distribution pattern like?

Getting a better understanding of these changing trends and their implications will enable practice heads to surmount the challenges and capitalise on the new opportunities ahead.

To gain a deeper insight into the Pharmaceutical Industry, download our RGF Healthcare & Life Sciences Outlook 2019 report.