Making healthcare more affordable

Rapidly rising costs for public health systems have become a serious concern for countries in the developed world, while in developing countries people often cannot afford life-saving medication.

In the end, the patient suffers: either with ever-rising medical insurance contributions, or, even worse, by letting a disease go untreated.

Market trends are favoring generics. Medicine demands, due in particular to lifestyle and aging, are increasing. The strong economic expansion of emerging markets is translating into new demand for affordable healthcare services. The stable flow of patent expiries is also providing impetus to the generics business.

Generics are one part of the solution. Because medicine constitutes between 8 and 15 percent of total health spending, generics help to keep expenditures down by providing affordable medicines, and thus enabling healthcare systems to remain viable.

These medicines compete with chemically identical, off-patent branded drugs, often reducing the costs of treatment.