Novartis and Roche Dominate Brazil Oncology Market

According to local studies, Swiss drug majors Novartis and Roche account for 33.7 percent of Brazil's oncology treatments market, which was worth a total BRL1.2bn (US$463.76mn) in the first nine months of 2004. Roche's Herceptin was Brazil's strongest-selling cancer therapy in the period, with sales totalling BRL104.7mn (US$40.47mn), while Novartis' Glivec leukaemia treatment had sales of some BRL101.4mn (US$39.16mn).

The country's reimbursement framework, known as the SUS or Single Health System in English, accounted for the majority of sales in the segment. Notably, if the segment is considered in terms of unit sales, local generic drugmaker Biosintética emerged in first place in the period, although in terms of sales revenue the company trailed its innovative rivals in 15th place.

Despite the presence of generic competitors, it should be noted that the results are broadly in line with the two Swiss drugmakers' strong global presence in oncology. The two research-based companies, while aware of the Brazilian market's potential, spend only a fraction of their annual R&D budgets in Brazil, with Novartis spending only US$5mn of its annual US$3.5bn research budget on development in the country.