Opportunities & Difficulties in Emerging Markets for Pharma, OTC, Medical Devices and Herbal Products

The XII International Pharma Licensing Symposium took place on the 16th-18th of September, 2015, at the Hilton Hotel, Berlin, Germany.

The overall topic of the international conference was to integrate strategies for joining new Healthcare markets and for developing business within these markets.

Mr. Reiner Christensen, the CEO of Chameleon Pharma Consulting, talked about Pharma, OTC, Medical Devices and Phyto market entries in the Emerging Markets. The OTC and specialty Pharma industry, in particular, are progressing rapidly, and their market shares are increasing worldwide. In addition, Mr. Christensen demonstrated the importance of launching niche products, and argued why characteristics such as dealing with special indications and a higher differentiation can be very favourable.

Mr Christensen’s presentation also highlighted the importance of identifying the best-fitting local partners in international markets, and why this step is crucial in the process of internationalizing a product. Finding out that a local partner may have been the wrong choice after the product has been launched can cost companies up to two years of business. Money and time need to be reinvested, particularly because retail outlets have to be convinced to sign with a product a second time around.

In addition, the presentation emphasized that healthcare markets in China and India are currently difficult to enter. Moreover, he pointed out that there is not a one-size-for-all best Emerging Market, but that the best-fitting countries companies should be researched based on the specific product portfolio. More than seven years research by Chameleon Pharma has shown that companies like to spend more time to identify the best-fitting TOP 10 Emerging Markets for their products in Asia, Latin America, CIS and the Middle East, but that often a lack of time or specific knowledge of local countries is the limiting factor.

If you are interested in the full Emerging Market presentation, please contact our head office.

Featured image: Photo by Ansgar Scheffold on Unsplash