GENERICS GEAR UP FOR GROWTH IN EUROPE

With the expectation of a significant surge in sales volume over the next few years, combined with a collective industry effort to bring more high-value, specialty drugs to the market, generic drug companies operating in Europe are looking at the possibility of significant growth, an industry analyst observed at the Merrill Lynch Generics Conference held last week in Frankfurt, Germany.

According to Merrill Lynch research analyst Andreas Schmidt, the generics market in Europe has a high growth potential and companies operating in Europe are confident they can make a profit next year despite changes in healthcare policies and competition that has increased as much as 20 percent in some cases. Their optimism can be attributed to higher volumes, cheaper sourcing and efforts to produce specialty drugs, such as oncology and extended-release generic drugs, the report said.

Sales volumes are expected to rise from the current $30 billion to about $50 billion in the next four to five years -- making this region the "most attractive generics market" in the world, the report said. Several experts pointed to limited penetration of generic drugs in several European markets and the looming expiration of several drug patents.