"Total global spending on medicines will exceed one trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2014 and reach almost $1.2 trillion in 2017. The role of medicines in improving health for hundreds of millions of people across the globe has never been more important.
Many countries are moving toward Universal Health Coverage, ensuring access to medicines and other elements of healthcare for all. At such a time, understanding the market for pharmaceuticals of all types – small and large molecules, brands and generics, those dispensed in retail pharmacies and those used in hospital or clinic settings – is essential.
As we pass the fifth year since the beginning of the world’s major economic slowdown, macroeconomic indicators are improving, though more slowly than previously forecast. Austerity measures taken by some governments, especially in Europe, continue to be applied to healthcare spending and especially medicines."
