Emerging third world markets to big drug companies has come to be the same as California gold was to miners in the 1800′s. Every major drug company is clamoring to get their stake in these emerging markets, and is stopping at nothing to do it. But just as many of the biggest drug making companies in the world have their sights clearly set on these emerging markets, many of these countries are turning to generic drugs instead. This has always been the trend in less developed areas of the world, but analysts expect as the middle classes in most of these developing nations grow, there will be more of a demand for branded medicines, that may be more expensive, but are seen as having better quality.
That is why it is no surprise that the acquisition of generic drug companies, by larger branded drug corporations, is on the rise. As these larger drug companies are scrambling to buy the rights to generic drugs they can sell from their own, better trusted brand, companies like Wal-Mart and Kroger are clamoring to get a piece of the action. These companies know if they can buy generic drugs from these emerging markets at bottomed out prices, they can sell them in their retail outlets for a large profit. Cheap copycat generic drugs are becoming a necessity to some of these retail pharmaceutical companies because their losing more and more money everyday to well established drug companies, while at the same time having these cheap drugs attracts more customers to their stores.
But according to many in the pharmaceutical sales consulting industry, this may be a dangerous trend. Because companies like Wal-Mart and Kroger are most likely buying their generic drugs from poorer countries like India and Indonesia, this is causing a big concern about the quality of the drugs. The FDA is trying to crack down on the rising sales of generics from emerging markets to the U.S and other European countries, but the truth is, there’s really not much they can do about it. As the need for cheaper, more available drugs continues to rise, there will be no choice but to turn to generic drugs on a massive scale.
But the large drug companies have not thrown in the towel just yet. With the emergence of generic drugs in these emerging markets, drug companies have started to turn more to generic branded medicine of their own. They have decided to buy the rights of much of this generic medicine themselves, so they can put their brand on it, giving it more legitimacy in markets around the world. With all that being said, there’s one thing we do know, that this is only the beginning of a colossal struggle between the smaller generic drug companies and the large branded drug corporations.
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Nigel Smart is a pharmaceutical consultant with extensive experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. With Denise Smart, he manages Smart Consulting Group. Visit their blog at www.smartconsultinggroup.com/blogArticle Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/emerging-markets-in-the-pharmaceutical-industry-1334644.html
