Market Report, "Puerto Rico Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q1 2010", published

Jan. 24, 2010 - PRLog -- Puerto Rico's pharmaceutical market is showing strong growth in nominal terms, but high inflation in the economy will erode many of these gains. BMI expects the Puerto Rican drug market to increase from US$2.9bn in 2008 to US$4bn by 2013, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.68% in US dollar terms. However, with the economy stagnating, BMI forecasts that the drug market will begin to contract in real terms by 2012. Meanwhile, in our Business Environment Rankings for the region, Puerto Rico's overall score of 71.1 is second of the 10 Latin American countries surveyed by BMI, behind only the US. US President Barack Obama's plans to implement a universal healthcare scheme could end up costing Puerto Rico up to US$1bn in health funding per year. According to reports in Caribbean Business, that will be the eventual cost if cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) funds are enacted. As well as losses to physicians, medical centres and hospitals, it is thought that thousands of jobs could also be affected. Introduced in 1997, MA programmes give Medicare beneficiaries the chance to upgrade their standard health packages through co-payments to private health insurers. Typically the government pays the MA provider a set fee with the patient making up the difference. However, with President Obama looking to make insurance available to 46mn Americans without coverage, there have been hints that part of the funding will come from private health plans linked to the MA system. In April 2009, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals - a division of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) - announced that it was shedding 50 jobs at its plant in Manati, Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, a further 100 jobs are expected to be cut in the near future. In total the cuts represent approximately 30% of the workforce of the plant, and come alongside another J&J announcement that 900 job will be cut within its operations across the US. J&J reported in January 2009 that it was expecting weak sales as a result of the global economic slowdown and competition from generic drugs. According to reports in Caribbean Business, US drugmaker Abbott is planning to invest US$150mn in Puerto Rico in early 2009. The extra funding will be used to expand capacity for products such as arthritis drug Humira (adalimumab), as well as its planned new biologic for treating psoriasis, ABT874, which is in phase III trials. According to the local sources, the company is looking at two separate US$75mn expansion projects.

For more information or to purchase this report, go to:
-  http://www.fastmr.com/prod/43444_puerto_rico_pharmaceutic...

About Business Monitor International

Business Monitor International (BMI) offers a comprehensive range of products and services designed to help senior executives, analysts and researchers assess and better manage operating risks, and exploit business opportunities, across 175 markets.  BMI offers three main areas of expertise: Country Risk BMI's country risk and macroeconomic forecast portfolio includes weekly financial market reports, monthly regional Monitors, and in-depth quarterly Business Forecast Reports.  Industry Analysis BMI covers a total of 17 industry verticals through a portfolio of services, including in-depth quarterly Country Forecast Reports.  View more research from Business Monitor International at http://www.fastmr.com/catalog/publishers.aspx?pubid=1010

About Fast Market Research

Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. We represent the world's top research publishers and analysts and provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available.

For more information about these or related research reports, please visit our website at http://www.fastmr.com or call us at 1.800.844.8156.