Depending on your viewpoint, generic drugs represent either the future of the global pharmaceutical industry or an irritating drain on the revenues of R&D based companies. The sector continues to grow in importance, fuelled by the twin pressures of therapeutically significant products coming off patent and health provider demands for lower prices. Analysts in industry and commerce must have a clear understanding of the threats and opportunities in key markets worldwide.

Generics market reports from Espicom Business Intelligence are produced by a multi-lingual editorial team with over 25 years pharmaceutical market experience. And when that experience is combined with one of the best healthcare market databases around, and informed by direct access to over 1200 companies and organisations worldwide, you have unbeatable, reliable, qualified and enriched market analysis. Australia represents a small but highly developed pharmaceutical market. The country has relatively low prices for a developed country, due to price controls exerted through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. As in Canada, this tends to depress the scope for generics, since margins are lower.

The recently-negotiated free trade agreement with the USA has caused widespread controversy in Australia. It contains provisions aimed at strengthening the branded pharmaceutical industry by giving manufacturers a larger say in PBS reimbursement decisions, and possibly making it harder to bring generics to market.

Despite its problems, the Australian market represents one of the few ‘true' generic markets in the Asia-Pacific region. There are a handful of local high quality manufacturers, headed by Alphapharm, and the sector is expanding with the arrival of companies such as Genepharm.