"France Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q3 2010" now available at Fast Market Research

July 9, 2010 - PRLog -- France scores well in our Q310 Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Business Environment Ratings - it is ranked 10th globally (out of the 82 markets in BMI's coverage universe) and fourth in our Western European matrix of nine countries. On a regional basis, Western Europe's attractiveness to pharmaceutical firms stems from the fact that the region's countries are key revenue sources for 'big pharma', particularly for companies selling high-end products, as per-capita spending is substantially higher than in emerging markets. However, drug companies will face many challenges in Western Europe over the next decade, including the patent cliff, the need to reduce fiscal deficits, added regulatory hurdles and increasingly scrupulous cost-effectiveness assessments of new drugs.

BMI calculates that drug sales in France reached EUR30.25bn (US$42.35bn) in 2009. We note that our forecasts for 2010 indicate a 1.2% growth in the drug market in local currency terms. However, driven by the need for fiscal austerity, the French government may implement price erosion mechanism on medicines, which would lead to a flat growth or even a decline in pharmaceutical spending in France in 2010. Several governments across Europe including Portugal, Greece, Spain, Switzerland and Germany have enforced price erosion mechanisms on the pharmaceutical industry. European governments account for a large percentage of pharmaceutical spending and as a result cutting medicines prices may be seen as a relatively easy way to cut costs.

Additionally, compared with growth levels witnessed between 2004 and 2009, BMI's outlook for the French drug market is less optimistic over the next five years, largely as a result of the impending patent cliff and the consequent consumption of lower-value generic drugs in place of the high-value patented drugs. Highlighting the government's promotion of the lower-value generic medicines sector, the French National Health Insurance Fund, Caisse Nationale d'Assurance-Maladie (CNAM), has signed an agreement with three of the country's major pharmacy unions, under which pharmacists will continue to promote generic medicines with the aim of achieving a higher overall medicines substitution rate of 80% in 2010, compared with approximately 75% in 2009.

Meanwhile, in May 2010, the French Ministry of Health put forward a proposal that could legalise the online sale of OTC not reimbursed by the Assurance Maladie. A working group has been set up including pharmacists, medicine safety watchdogs and manufacturers, in order to assess the viability of the proposal. If passed, the law would bring France in line with 15 other EU member states which already recognise online sales. BMI believes the political and economic motivations behind the proposal include the control of escalating health expenditure costs through the encouragement of self-medication. French drug expenditure levels are among the highest in Europe.

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Partial Table of Contents:

Executive Summary
SWOT Analysis
- France Pharmaceuticals And Healthcare Industry SWOT
- France Political SWOT
- France Economic SWOT
Pharmaceutical Business Environment Ratings
- Table: Western Europe Pharmaceutical Business Environment Ratings for Q310
- Limits to Potential Returns
- Risks to Realisation of Returns
France - Market Summary
Regulatory Regime
- Intellectual Property Developments
- Counterfeit Drugs
- Pricing and Reimbursement Issues
- Table: France Reimbursement Categories
- Recent Pricing and Reimbursement Developments
- OTC Market Developments
Industry Trends And Developments
- Epidemiology
- Table: Disease Burden In Western Europe
- Public Health Issues
- Prescribing Habits
- Healthcare Financing
Industry Forecast Scenario
- Overall Market Forecast
- Key Growth Factors - Industry
- Key Growth Factors - Macroeconomic
- Table: France - Economic Activity
- Prescription Drug Market Forecast
- Patented Product Market Forecast
- Generic Drug Market Forecasts
- OTC Medicine Market Forecast
- Pharmaceutical Trade Forecast
- Other Healthcare Data and Forecasts
- Key Risks to BMI's Forecasts
Competitive Landscape
- Pharmaceutical Industry
- Recent Company Developments
- Multinational Companies
- Research and Development Sector
- Biotechnology Sector
- Wholesale Sector
- Pharmacy Sector
- Medical Devices
Company Monitor
- Indigenous Companies
- Sanofi-Aventis
- Servier
- Ipsen
- Leading Multinational Manufacturers
- Pfizer
- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
- Novartis
- Merck & Co
Country Snapshot: France Demographic Data
- Section 1: Population
- Table: Demographic Indicators, 2005-2030
- Table: Rural/Urban Breakdown, 2005-2030
- Section 2: Education and Healthcare
- Table: Education, 2002-2005
- Table: Vital Statistics, 2005-2030
- Section 3: Labour Market and Spending Power
- Table: Employment Indicators, 2000-2005
- Table: Consumer Expenditure, 2000-2012 (US$)
- Table: Average Annual Wages, 2000-2012
BMI Methodology
- How We Generate Our Pharmaceutical Industry Forecasts

Full Table of Contents is available at:
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