Live from BIO: For Biotechs, a bright future with challenges
At the first day of BIO 2008 conference I met with Murry Aitken, Senior VP of Healthcare Insight at IMS Health. IMS just released a report on the growth of biologic drugs in 2007. Global biologic sales increased 12.5 percent in 2007 to more than $75 billion; that's twice as fast as the pharmaceutical market, which increased 6.4 percent in 2007.
The future is looking rosy for biotech, but that doesn't mean that biotechs can go about their business without an eye on the future. The most obvious eventual challenge for biologics are biosimilars--generic versions of biotech drugs. More immediately, however, biotechs must address issues of safety versus costs. Biotech's ability to forsee and prepare for the future will help it avoid some of the problems Big Pharma is facing now. Article