Spanish Pharma Armada: growth forecast in FDI and Latin American exports

Following the closing of CPhI Worldwide 2015 in Madrid, a report about the Spanish pharma market has been published

The report, published by CPhI Worldwide, organised by UBM EMEA, surveyed companies in Spain’s pharma supply and manufacturing sectors

The survey showed that the country’s manufacturers are now targeting increased foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports – primarily to Latin America and Europe, but also increasingly to the USA.

One of the main growth opportunities according to the surveys is that Spain retains a large amount of early stage innovations, but has until recently lacked the capital to take these into development and commercialisation.

However, with the easing of financial conditions from ‘la crisis’ and initiatives to encourage local and international funding the report indicates that there will be more projects moving to completion.

Another trend the report highlights is that as the overall domestic market shrank, generic exports have continued to grow rapidly (30-40%) over the last 5-years.

This trend is forecast to continue by the report, as by European and US standards, manufacturing and labour costs remain highly competitive.

The report shows that a new wave of SMEs are targeting exports to Europe and Latin America whilst some of the longer established companies with FDA approved GMP sites are also looking to gain increased traction in the US.

Farmaindustria, the national association for the pharmaceutical industry, states opportunities are uneven between national and multinational providers.

Humberto Arnés, director general of Farmaindustria, said: “Our national companies are related in terms of their geographical reach – Europe being the most important – and there is still much work to do in internalising them.

“The industry needs to generate trust from investors to build a predictable Spanish market and export platform. But Spain is well positioned to grow.”

The report also highlighted that Life Science investment in Barcelona has doubled in recent years and nearly half of all R&D in Spain is located in the region.

Across the APIs and intermediates market, companies are also reporting increased confidence in sales growth, particularly for products beyond the $100/Kg threshold, with oncology and high potents attracting the attention of many manufacturers.

Rutger Oudejans, brand director pharma at UBM EMEA, said: “Spain, as our survey notes, is split into two key pharma hubs and its hugely exciting to be moving to Barcelona next year - a region we feel is primed to become increasingly significant within the industry.

“What’s more, with the growth in finished formulation dosages, it was also the ideal time to introduce a new dedicated zone, more details of which will be announced in the New Year.”