Turkey ‘can be pharma R&D, production hub by 2023’, says PwC
pharmafile | October 23, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | R&D, Turkey, pwC
Despite lagging behind its peers among ‘pharmerging’ economies, Turkey has the potential to become a major R&D and production hub for the pharmaceutical industry by 2023, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A new PwC report commissioned by the Turkish pharmaceutical industry association AIFD, says that Turkey could be producing $23 billion-worth of medicines in 2023, up from $5 billion in 2011, with more than a third ($8 billion) of that total destined for export markets.
To achieve that objective Turkey should focus on increasing production capacity for high-value product groups, boosting its presence in basic and clinical research and becoming a management and shared services hub for the Eurasian markets.
The report notes that Turkey is striving to follow in the footsteps of countries such as Ireland, South Korea and Singapore, which have made huge gains in pharmaceutical production and R&D thanks to the implementation of government-led initiatives to boost the sector.
The Turkish government launched its own programme aimed at making Turkey one of the world’s top ten economies in health services by 2023, by increasing R&D expenditures to 3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
At the moment however, PwC concludes that Turkey is lagging behind other emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China in terms of pharmaceutical investment coming in at 36th in terms of clinical research and the volume of pharma exports, despite having drug industry ranked at number 16 worldwide.
“We want our pharmaceutical sector to have the necessary infrastructure and ecosystem enabling Turkey to receive more international investments,” said AIFD president Güldem Berkman.
In turn, that will help the industry achieve higher production and export levels, contribute to a positive foreign trade balance and “offer a high-quality service … to our patients”.
PwC’s action plan for production and export of pharmaceuticals includes an inventory of Turkey’s domestic manufacturing capacity, implementation of an incentive package announced earlier this year and a focus on prioritised areas such as oncology, biotechnology and blood products.
Turkey should also work on bilateral licensing agreements with potential export markets and bring forward regulatory objectives such as applying to join the Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme (PIC/S), according to the report.
Phil Taylor
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