Analyst Briefing about Oncology Market

Frost & Sullivan Announces Analyst Briefing on Indian Oncology Market

	NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Mumbai, India, 03/29/2010 - The Healthcare practice at Frost & Sullivan, a Growth Partnership Company is pleased to host an Analyst Briefing on the Indian Oncology Market. The presentation will be held on Tuesday, March 30 at 3:00 pm Indian Standard Time.
	The latest research of Frost & Sullivan on 'Overview of Indian oncology market' presents an all-encompassing research of Oncology markets for various cancers: Breast cancer, Lung Cancer, Ovarian cancer, Prostate cancer, Head and Neck cancer, Cervical cancer, Renal cell carcinoma and Pancreatic cancer. The research focuses on pharmaceutical industry spending in various segments of cancer treatment. Cancer is the leading cause of death in India, so the Oncology therapeutic market is growing at a very high speed. The research study of this market represents the competition and strategic analysis of various segments of cancer market. Oncology market is the most attractive and growing healthy. Most of the MNCs present capture maximum market share, but hardly anybody knows about the market and its dynamics. Most of the players are not sure about where the market is moving and each one is trying to increase its sales as maximum as possible. Through this briefing, we shall present active reforms and recommendations that could be followed to plan out the strategy in the cancer market. The briefing, besides covering an analysis of the drivers and key constraints that affects growth of Oncology market, shall also cover the diseases including its impact on local and global scenario. The briefing will benefit the API manufacturers, finished formulation manufacturers, marketers, decision makers, by discussing the market trends and future drivers in Indian context. According to Frost & Sullivan Program Manager Bibhuti Bhusan Kar "Lack of any authenticated and audited data on the market, absence of any standardized treatment protocol, and increasing demand for newer and newer molecules for treatment has made the marketers to plan very wisely. Knowing the market better would solve the purpose." To participate in this briefing, or for an interview, please email Anish Charles at anishc[.]frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, office email id, address, city, state, and country. Upon receipt of the above information, a registration link will be emailed to you. You may also register to receive a recorded version of the briefing at anytime by submitting the aforementioned contact details. If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the Indian Oncology Market in India, then send an email to Anish Charles / Nimisha Iyer, Corporate Communications, at anishc[.]frost.com / niyer[.]frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company email address, company website, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by email. Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. - Source: PR Newswire Today, 29 March 2010 - Link: http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/67488/

Pharma Logistics Supplement: Asian Potential

Bibhuti Bhusan Kar, program manager, Frost & Sullivan

Logistics providers can ride on the growth of Asia's expanding markets by offering reliable and efficient services in the transport, monitoring and storage of pharmaceuticals.
Monday, March 01, 2010
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Program manager, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, south asia & middle east, frost & sullivan the pharmaceutical industry is one of the few sectors that has been relatively resilient during the economic slowdown. Healthcare is typically one of the last areas where consumers cut spending. According to the world health organization, asia accounts for half of the world's population and has a significant market for novel drugs and improved healthcare systems.

In 2008, the global pharmaceutical market was worth us$773 billion, growing by about five percent over 2007, according to ims. The asia/africa/australia region has had the highest growth rate of 15.3 percent to us$90.8 over 2007, as compared to north america at 1.8 percent and japan at 2.1 percent.


pharmaceutical products need to be transported from the manufacturing site to the end user. However, unlike other types of products, pharmaceutical products need specialized transportation to maintain quality as many drugs are temperature, humidity and light sensitive. Any slight deviation in handling during transportation can cause degradation in the quality or potency of the drug.

Maintaining standards
drug manufacturers need to enforce the standards of good manufacturing practice (gmp) during manufacture to produce drugs in certain temperatures and humidity. This is the same for various other procedures such as quality control, packaging, storage, etc. Pharmaceutical companies have to follow stringent regulatory guidelines to obtain approval to market the drug.

The drugs manufactured are under scrutiny by the regulatory authorities to ensure quality. Any change in quality of the drug can be expensive to the manufacturer or the marketer of the product.

Certain medicine such as vaccines, biologics and certain ophthalmic preparations, require cold chain management from the site of manufacturing till it reaches and is used by the patient (end user). These drugs need special temperature controlled storage to maintain their quality and efficacy. They can become less effective or lose their potency if not stored properly throughout the distribution process. Generally, two temperature ranges are recommended for the cold chain products as per their labels - products requiring temperatures between 20c to 80c and those requiring a range of between -100c and -200c.

For example, sanofi-pasteur imports vaccines from a manufacturing site in france. The cold chain has to be maintained from that site to the end user in India, to ensure the potency of the drug - demonstrating the importance of logistics in the pharmaceutical distribution channel.

As drugs have a finite shelf-life, the time that is required for transportation is also an important consideration.

Competitive pressure
major markets in asia are driven by generic drugs and these drugs compete by price. The substitution of drugs is common where a particular product has become out of stock at the retail counter. It is important that the appropriate medicine and dosage is administered to the patient at the right place, time - and the right price.


pharmaceutical companies are increasingly under pressure for reasons such as lack of innovative molecules in the pipeline, increasing pressure from the government to reduce healthcare expenditure, and the rising cost of regulatory activities. Many companies have to slash operational costs and therefore reduce inventory levels at various stages of distribution. This is to reduce order cycle time and to increase efficiency. This further increases the requirements for an efficient and proper distribution system, to ensure just-in-time deliveries.

In some countries like India, there are a lack of regulatory standards and stringent norms for logistics. Many of the manufacturers transport the drugs through conventional methods such as trucks.

Also, certain drugs reach expiry in the market at the retail counter and are usually returned to the pharmaceutical companies for compensation with fresh products.

In countries such as India, the distribution channel is multilayered. At every level, there are associations comprising of stockists or retailers that decide on the products and usually demand higher profit margins. Pharmaceutical companies are not able to bypass the system and reach the customers directly.

In china however, the government has been able to implement reforms to flatten the distribution structure, reducing the overall cost of the supply chain.

In India, there are about 65,000 stockists and 550,000 retail outlets in the pharma industry, which has increased six- and fourfold respectively in the last 25-30 years. Similarly in china, there are close to 125,000 pharmaceutical retail outlets and more than 15,000 wholesale enterprises in the pharmaceutical distribution network. The accessibility of drugs to these entities is important, which means that logistics has to play a crucial role for just-intime deliveries and at the same time avoid stock outs.

The retail chains sector also looks promising. In India, retail chains such as religare wellness, reliance wellness, 98.4, the medicine shoppe, himalaya, guardian and others have been successful. From the logistics point of view this segment is likely to be lucrative as it requires efficient logistics solutions from third-party logistics service providers.

Regulatory challenges
stringent government regulations can create hurdles due to the documentation process. Especially pertaining to the import or export of the drugs, the documentation process can be time consuming. The time period also varies from country to country. Any issues in the documentation process will result in the materials being withheld for a longer period of time. However, well-trained logistics support from third-party vendors can be tapped on to take care of these issues.

The biotech industry in the region is in a nascent stage. However, in India and china, the growth of the industry is faster than those of other countries in the region. Biotech products require careful climate control throughout their transit period, which makes them vulnerable to spoilage during distribution. Therefore, the demand for well-trained and efficient logistics providers is high.

There are large untapped rural markets in countries like India and China. Most of the modern medicines today are not accessible by the rural population in India because the supply chain is unable to reach these areas. Close to 70 percent of India's population comprise the rural market which makes it a potentially lucrative market for pharma logistics players.

In addition, most multinational national corporations (mncs) are operating mainly in the metropolitan tier one and tier two cities in India. Because of the growing healthcare infrastructure in India and also across the region, there will be an increasing demand for drugs in previously untapped markets.

The clinical trials industry in asia and more specifically in china and India is growing rapidly. This is because of the cost competitiveness in the region, compared to western countries, and the presence of widely available disease profiles. In addition, the availability of treatment naive patients and skilled human resources are also contributing factors.

Medicines have to be transported to different patient centers or study sites across the country to be tested on various patients. As the transportation of medicines is subject to regulations, the existence of effective logistics is necessary.

In certain cases, batches of medicines may be required to be returned to the manufacturer from the market. In countries like India, a system is lacking for the recall of drugs, once the latter has entered the market. This is due to the fragmented nature of the distribution channel.

Technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can be used to keep track of the product along the entire distribution channel, and would prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the distribution system. However, the adoption of this technology in India is slow.

Potential for Expansion
in 2008, the global pharmaceutical logistics market recorded revenues of about us$90.3 billion, which included services such as freight, warehousing, and express logistics. According to Cygnus research, the market size of Indian pharmaceutical logistics was close to us$200 million in 2006 and the industry has been growing at a rate of four percent since 2002.

According to an estimate, logistics comprises of 45-55 percent of the costs in the pharmaceutical value chain. Based on a study in 2009, transportation is the biggest contributor to logistics costs, accounting for about 45.7 percent.

The next two biggest contributors to pharmaceutical logistics costs are warehousing and freight forwarding, which accounted for 33.2 percent and 15.0 percent respectively. Most of the industry participants also aim to further reduce their overall logistics costs by 1-5 percent in the next 1-2 years. Inbound or outbound transportation and freight forwarding are expected to be the most sought-after logistics services during this period.

Many pharmaceutical companies are constantly looking at enquiry code: 102s01 outsourcing their logistics operations to service providers that can offer them end-to-end supply chain solutions. There is an increasing trend in the usage of technologies in the logistics sector such as track and trace, fleet management, warehouse management and planning and forecasting tools.

Looking at the present scenario of the pharma industry and the increasing pressure to reduce the cost of operations, the following services are required from the logistics support suppliers by the pharmaceutical companies:

• cost effective cold chain distribution management;
• maintenance of humidity, temperature and light for drugs during distribution;
• strategies for an efficient distribution system for just-in-time deliveries and to avoid stock outs and drug substitution;
• value-added services during the documentation process to avoid any delay during the import and export processes;
• value-added services to match the needs of clinical trial distribution requirements;
• technology to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering into the supply chain;
• technology to track and trace the location of drugs in the distribution channel.

The use of technologies can further enhance the efficiency in daily operations for faster and more accurate delivery. Technologies like track and trace systems can also increase the visibility of logistics end users, allowing customers to track their shipment or package and to know when the delivery will be performed. Warehouse management systems are used by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors. There is also an increasing adoption of visibility tools like bar-coding/RFID systems.

- Source: PharmaAsia, singapore, March 01, 2010

- link: http://pharmaasia.com/article-8358-pharmalogisticssupplementpharmalogisticsasianpotential-asia.html