The European vaccines market is predicted to witness significant growth in the next few years, due to increased investment in new vaccine development, utilisation of novel technologies and a promising late-stage pipeline.
According to new research by Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the European Cold Chain Vaccine Market, (www.pharma.frost.com), the European vaccines market is estimated to reach earned revenues of $12.05 billion in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.6% from 2011-2018.
"The future growth of the vaccine industry is likely to be propelled by the adult vaccines segment," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Aiswariya Chidambaram. "The tremendous success rates of the recently launched influenza and HPV vaccines have attracted the attention of market participants towards the adult vaccines. The vast majority of the vaccines in pipeline are novel, innovative vaccines based on new antigens, targeting malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever, allergies and herpes.
The high unmet needs of diseases prevalent in the developing world present huge opportunities for market growth and are also attracting investment from governments to reduce healthcare costs and private investors for philanthropic and commercial reasons. Alongside technology innovation, this increased attention on vaccine R&Dis "likely to revolutionise the vaccine industry from prophylactic to therapeutic vaccines," the report said.
However there are still economic and regulatory challenges that face vaccine manufacturers on their quest to commercialisation.
In his Pharma IQ article Vaccine Development: The Revolution Starts Tomorrow, Dr. Alexander Yule, Principal at Alexander Yule Consulting, said: "The fruits of vaccine development face an increasingly tough regulatory and commercial environment. Vaccines constitute a unique drug class: they are almost exclusively intended for people who are not sick. Despite the remarkable safety record of vaccines, vaccination scares are never far from the headlines and have caused tangible harm with respect to MMR vaccine and HPV vaccine uptake. In the minds of many, fear of disease has been replaced by fear of vaccination and regulators have no choice but to set the safety bar high enough to minimise the risk of future safety issues," said Yule.
The Frost and Sullivan analysis also showed that anticipation of capacity demand is still a key challenge, especially during a pandemic.
"Speculation of vaccine production capacity considering unanticipated needs such as pandemic outbreaks, epidemics and bioterrorism is likely to have a huge impact on the growth and sustenance of vaccine manufacturers in Europe," added Chidambaram. "Vaccine manufacturers are under the compulsion to maintain excess reserve supply owing to the tender-based vaccine procurement, lest they miss out on huge business opportunities."
Whatever the known challenges vaccine development is set of rapid growth, spurred on by global unmet need and innovation in the field.
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