Big Three Asia pharma markets poised to soar in 2015, reports say

The driving pharmaceutical segments of two of Asia's pharmaceutical giants,India and Japan, are expected to grow at rates of nearly 11% and 8% respectively through the year 2019, and China is expected to record a near-12% increase in this year alone.

Limited information from a series of recent reports by various research companies focused on the overall China pharma market, India's active pharmaceutical ingredients market and Japan's generics markets for clues to what lies ahead for the industry in Asia's three biggest markets.

One report pegged China's pharmaceutical market to increase to $110.26 billion this year, for a growth of 11.7% in U.S. dollar terms. The nation's overall healthcare industry was forecast to grow 13.5% this year.

Just off the China mainland, Hong Kong's figures reported in another forecast had its pharmaceutical market increasing to nearly $1.7 billion this year, for an 8.5% growth, its overall healthcare market expanding by 7%.

Longer-term forecasts were published for India and Japan. India's centered on its API market expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 10.76% from last year through 2019. Over a shorter period, through this year, its overall market was expected to achieve healthy growth, a report said.

Japan's generics market outlook through 2019 looked a bit more reserved, with only an 8.16% CAGR from this year through 2019. In that report, Meiji Seika Pharma, Nichi-Iko, Nipro Pharma, Sawai, Teva ($TEVA) and Towa were named as the six leaders of that market segment.

Japan's overall pharmaceutical industry was not expected to fare as well, according to other reports, one forecasting it to reach $79.8 billion by 2020, a CAGR of only 1.8%. Even as the government emphasizes prescribing generics instead of branded drugs, new drugs were expected to drive even that relatively small growth percentage.

One report also forecast Japan's medical-device segment to grow at a 6.1% rate to $75 billion in 2020, crediting the nation's universal health care coverage for the increase.

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