Global Overview of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Equipment

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key findings

Growth migrates towards newer categories

Western Europe and Latin America now outpace Asia Pacific, while Japan contracts outright. Mature portfolios face patent expiry and saturated home demand, so growth increasingly follows the companies that reshape holdings towards obesity, oncology and other higher-growth categories through deals.

Payers erode real pricing power

Rising prices, not rising treatment volumes, explain much of the headline growth. Producer prices push higher across the USA, Brazil and Australia yet slip in China, showing how procurement bodies and payers squeeze pricing power wherever value evidence governs purchasing.

Small entrants multiply, scale concentrates

Company numbers rise far faster than turnover, so average scale shrinks. Micro-businesses dominate the count and grow quickest, yet value keeps concentrating among the largest employers, as AI and automation reward only those able to fund digital capability at scale.

Devices and home care lead

Medical equipment grows faster than medicines, led by imaging, diagnostics and injection devices. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Egypt expand quickest through to 2030, as prevention, remote monitoring and personalised care move treatment steadily closer to patients and their own homes.

Resilience reshapes where goods flow

Trade flows bear little relation to domestic manufacturing capability. Transshipment hubs ship far beyond what they actually produce, while China and India absorb most of their own output, so tariffs and concentrated sourcing now make resilience an urgent boardroom concern.