The world market for preventative vaccines totaled $25.3 billion in 2010, up from $22.1 billion in 2009, according to a report published by Kalorama Information.
In its annual report on the industry, ”Vaccines 2011: World Market Analysis, Key Players, and Critical Trends in a Fast-Changing Industry,” New York City-based Kalorama noted that the worldwide vaccine market is predicted to increase at a compound annual rate of 9.3 percent during the next five years, as new product introductions continue and the products are sold to emerging markets.
“At 25 billion, it’s still too small to replace all of the bad news in the pharmaceutical industry – the industry will have to advance its R&D in other biologic areas, as well,” said Kalorama publisher Bruce Carlson. “But, it has helped balance sheets at the majors.”
“We think pharmacos are continuing to invest in vaccines because it is uncultivated land, for the time being, nearly free from generic threat,” continued Carlson. “While the broader drug market has been heavily impacted by the ongoing introduction of low cost generic alternatives, these are largely absent in the vaccine market.”
The world vaccines market is dominated by five major competitors: Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Pfizer and Novartis. Together, they held four-fifths of the market in 2010.
“Vaccines are a priority at the major companies and there has been no let-up in the business in the four years that we have been tracking it annually,” said Carlson.
Kalorama indicated that sales to Latin America, India and China will grow at double-digit rates. “We continue to see over nine percent growth in sales, and in some emerging markets the rate of growth is even faster. There is also a strong pipeline that should sustain growth as new products are launched,” said Carlson.
Vaccines are commonly segmented into two target markets, adult and pediatric. According to Kalorama, the pediatric vaccine market is larger, accounting for more than half of the total market. Pediatric vaccines are growing at a faster rate than adult vaccines and this is expected to continue over the next five years.
“One challenge for companies to be aware of is we see that increasingly the ‘refusal to immunize’ is an issue,” said Carlson. “It’s not affecting the growth projections we have, but it’s something drug companies would need to be aware of as the number of vaccine products increase.”