Global pharmaceutical industry boosted by rising drug approvals and sales in third quarter
Fitch Ratings says U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of pharmaceuticals and vaccines have ramped up throughout the year, bringing the year’s total on par with that for all of 2008. FDA drug approvals are on pace to exceed the 2008 total, a second consecutive year of increasing marketing clearances.
During the third quarter of 2009, the FDA approved 10 new pharmaceuticals and vaccines while the EMEA cleared six new therapies, compared to eight FDA approvals in the second quarter. After the increase of marketing authorization over the past two quarters, drug developers may receive around a dozen more regulatory approvals through the end of the first quarter of 2010.
With only one month remaining in the year, the Fitch-rated pharmaceutical developers listed in the report are still expecting to register six new drug entities and a vaccine to government drug authorities in 2009. Fitch says the industry conducted more business development in the third quarter in order to supplement late-stage R&D.
Additionally, overall industry sales for the global pharmaceutical sector are trending positively through the year from the low point in the first quarter.
Most of the large pharmaceutical companies covered in the report continued positive sales trends into the third quarter as many countries are emerging from a macroeconomic malaise.
The positive momentum is aided by a reversal of foreign exchange fluctuations that served to dampen revenues in the first two quarters of the year. Nevertheless, Fitch maintains a Negative rating outlook for the sector for 2010.
For details see Global Pharmaceutical R&D Pipeline – Third Quarter 2009
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