GlobalData: Brazil’s pharmaceutical market will grow to $47.9B by 2020

LONDON, U.K. — A new report from research and consulting firm GlobalData is showing potential for quite a bit of growth in Brazil’s pharmaceutical market. According to the report, the market is set to grow from $29.4 billion in 2014 to $47.9 billion by 2020, which represents a compound annual growth rate of 8.5%.

“Brazil has emerged as a global manufacturing hub for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, with countries such as India investing heavily in the manufacturing sector after former Brazilian health minister, José Serra, invited investment from generic companies,” GlobalData’s director of healthcare industry dynamics, Joshua Owide said. “As a consequence, Brazil is now one of the most attractive and promising pharmaceutical markets in the world. Indeed, its pharmaceutical market value has increased considerably over the past six years, having more than doubled from $14.1 billion in 2008.”

The key drivers of this growth will be Brazil’s aging population — which brings along with it chronic diseases — and recent investments in health care. The market is also seeing growth in generic drugs, largely because of the country’s public healthcare system’s purchases. 

“Government initiatives, such as the People’s Pharmacy program (Farmácia Popular), have been responsible for the increased usage and availability of generics, further boosted by the announcement of $34 billion investment in the Brazilian healthcare sector in 2014.” Owide said, adding that though 80% of Brazil’s pharmacy companies are domestic, the multi-national corporations that provide pharmaceuticals to that market in Brazil take in more revenue than domestic companies.