Biologics PRODUCTION AND MARKET - Essay Example

epresent a significant proportion of the pharmaceutical market according to Aagaard, Purdy, and Philpott (2010) who cite that in 2007 American consumers reportedly spent approximately $40 billion on biologics constituting about 13.9 percent of the overall money spent on prescription drugs. The statistics further show an increase in the use and prescription of biologics in the coming years. Visiongain, an international company, predicted that the market share of the biologics would immensely increase over these years.

According to the statistical data, these biologics will reach an estimated 178.4 billion by 2017. It was also found that biologics formed 15% of the pharmaceutical market in the year 2012 (Visiongain, 2013). Another report put forward by Allied Market Research also found out that the market of biologics would increase drastically over the years to come. According to Allied Market Research, it is estimated that the share would increase from a total of $1.3 billion in 2013 to $35 billion by the year 2020.

This clearly shows that the demand for biologics will keep on increasing as time is passing by (Market Watch, 2015). According to the forecasts, this has increased from $46 billion to $169 billion in the year of 2012 and is further expected to increase to $221 billion by 2017. Following is the graphical data which shows the forecast of biologics between the years of 2004 till 2017. However despite the success of biologics in the field of healthcare, there has been much debate regarding the approval of and patenting of the relevant technology.

Biologics go through a fast track approval process which greatly speeds the process. Much of the criticism pertaining to fast track approval procedure for biologics focuses on safety concerns which are ignored during the fast process. According to the FDA (2011), the fast track procedure is to allow for speedy approval of biologics for treatment of life-threatening diseases and hence is required due to necessity.