Research and consulting firm, GlobalData, has released a report demonstrating that the Spanish pharmaceutical market is set to see a slight rise in value from $23.7 billion last year to $25.1 billion by the year 2021.
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According to the report, the introduction of tax incentives for R&D spending by the Spanish government has lessened the effect of austerity measures introduced in 2010, allowing some recovery of the pharmaceutical sector.
Drivers for this growth include the consolidation of the biotechnology sector, government support, infrastructure for innovation, a highly-qualified workforce and a favourable cost benefit ratio of human capita. Additionally, the ageing population will be a significant factor in driving the Spanish healthcare sector to 2021.
Among the price containment measures introduced by the government were the formation of homogeneous groups of substitutable products to allow pharmacists to supply the cheapest drug, eliminating the two-year period that existed for pharma companies to reduce the price of their medicines below the reference price, and the introduction of a mandatory policy that pharmacists must dispense the cheapest available medicine. These measures caused a constriction in the market of 13.7% between 2010 and 2014.
With a currently strong R&D infrastructure and the introduction of tax incentives, demand for innovative medicines is helping the Spanish pharma market. As a result of tax incentives, R&D in the pharmaceutical industry saw investment of $1.2 billion in 2015.