"The VDMA assesses the German production volume in production and pharmaceutical packaging machinery to around one and a half billion Euros", explained Dr. Peter Golz, Deputy Managing Director of the Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association in occasion to the interpack 2011 in Düsseldorf. In value every fourth worldwide installed machine comes from German production. The German Pharmaceutical Machinery Manufacture Industry reckons good chances as the technology leader in the worldwide competition, to get a big piece of the worldwide investment cake in future, too, which is assessed to six to seven billion Euros from the VDMA. "The international pharmaceutical market is going through a radical change. Product mix and regional growth emphasises are moving. Our sector will furthermore profit from that. " Golz emphasized. Market requires flexible production systems Today's production structures meet no longer future market requirements. Many new agents are parentally applied and require sterile production and aseptic filling processes. "The research based industry has invested solid in the extension of the capacities. The trend continues. The introduction of bio generics causes additional capacity needs. " states Golz. Furthermore, new treatments are usually approved for niche applications for which additional therapeutic benefits compared to tried-and-tested treatments can be proven. "The days of high volume business are obviously numbered for Big Pharma", emphasized Golz. "The market calls for flexible systems for small production lots and frequent product changes, which also meet the increased requirements of the new generation of highly efficient agents in terms of dispensing accuracy and operator protection. " Growth centres have moved High volume business is continuously becoming a domain of specialized generic drug manufacturers. In the USA, the worldwide most important drug market, already two third of all prescriptions dispensed are for generic drugs and the trend continues upwards. In this segment, concepts for the reduction of unit costs with regard to new investments have come to the fore. Within this context, OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) is the catchword. The bar is high, because with standard drugs you are in competition with locations in threshold countries like India and China. The quality requirements in production and packaging technology are increasing. Success in export and high economic growth fuel the drug production. The market researcher IMS-Health predicts, that the so-called Pharmerging Countries – those are besides India, China, Brazil and Russia 13 further states – are contributing more than half to the growth of the worldwide demand for drugs in the meantime. In those states the German technology is in demand more than ever despite price-aggressive regional competition. "In the order books of our members the importance profit of the Pharmerging Countries with the production investments of the pharmaceutical industry can be retraced clearly. Our sector reacts with the extension of service capacities and construction of assembly and production capacities in growth regions", commented Golz. In the from the VDMA with special statistics observed market segments the sales share, which is allotted to Western Europe (including Germany) and North America, reduced from two third to half of the market volume within five years.
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