World markets data from IMS

According to IMS 2006 data, audited figures for the UK pharmaceutical market showed recovery. Having experienced a decline of 2.2 per cent in 2005, the UK expanded its market in 2006 by 4.1 per cent to USD 21bn.

The five major EU markets of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK taken together, however, experienced slowing growth for the third year running at only 4.4 per cent, down from 4.8 per cent in 2005.

North America also strengthened its pharmaceutical market in comparison to last year, when growth was just 5.4 per cent. The impact of the first year of the Medicare Part D benefit and the resulting increase in prescribing volume led to a market increase of 8.3 per cent in 2006.

The Chinese pharma market grew a massive 12.4%, although this had slowed from 20.5 per cent in 2005, due to the government's introduction of a campaign to limit physician promotion of pharmaceuticals.

India was one of the fastest growing markets in 2006, with pharmaceutical sales increasing 17.5 per cent to USD 7.3bn, helped by lower GDP per capita income in that region.