Are Pharmaceutical Companies Immune to Recession

Are Pharmaceutical Companies Immune topopulation in US, combined with chronic disease will
Recessionensure continued growth of the pharmaceutical
The world is going through a crucial time.industry.
Recession has hit the world and all industries;Pharmaceutical companies are also focusing on
more or less, are affected by it. All of a sudden,merger activities with biotechnology firms. Present
uncertainty has become a part of almost all theeconomic slowdown has given an opportunity to
sectors. We have not experienced such a financialbig pharmaceutical companies; to focus on
crisis since 1930s. The year 2008 was marked bybiotechnology companies, to boost their R&D
uncertainty and volatility in the global financialpipeline. In today’s environment, when the
environment. The consequences of the financialJapanese Yen is rising against US Dollar, Japanese
crisis have caused severe inflationary pressures.companies are in a better position to buy
Such an environment has generated deterioratingpharmaceutical or biotech companies.
conditions even for the pharmaceutical industry.During the economic downturn pharmaceutical
On the other hand, pharmaceutical companiescompanies are also facing challenges from generic
have never proven to be a vulnerable sector todrugs, expiry of patent of some of their
volatility and are not completely sensitive toblockbuster drugs and hesitance of FDA for new
economy.drug approval. In this time of recession, the
This is an industry which knows that their industrypharma companies have shown great interest in
will not be severely hit as illness neveronline marketing. Few companies are taking the
understands financial crisis, even in the hour ofhelp of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and are
recession. People need healthcare regardless ofwitnessing successful results. The company may
the economy. This is the reason that healthcaresee strong online brand presence, if online
providers have been one of the top performers,marketing strategy is implemented in the right
till now. People are running to invest in healthcareway. Pharmaceutical companies can also take
sector as it is considered to be the safest inadvantage from various online portals.
times like this. The pharmaceutical sector hasIn this context, Pharmaceutical Business Review
done fairly well in the US stock market and hashas emerged as a provider of market analysis
brought flow of money in the sector. It is notand business intelligence report on biotechnology,
that pharmaceutical industry has escaped thedrug discovery, healthcare services, OTC, drug
recession; there is certainly a decrease in growthdelivery, drug manufacturing, medical devices and
but not ruthless decline. The sector is not asCRO (Contract Research Organisation). It keeps
severely hit as the banking and financial sector orthe pharmaceutical companies informed on latest
the automotive sector.news and reports. This helps the companies in
Global healthcare spending is definitely going toanalyzing the latest trend of medical and
expand as the life expectancy has grown in thepharmaceutical industries in this time of crisis.
past. Long lived consumers will increase theIt seems that this tough time is here to stay for
demand for pharmaceuticals. As per the USall the industries including pharmaceutical sector,
census bureau, 24% of the nation’sbut the silver lining is that healthcare spending is
population is 55 years and older as of July 1, 2008.going to increase. This will help pharmaceutical
Further, it has forecasted that the number ofcompanies in growing and the focusing on online
people in this age group would increase tomarketing which will eventually prove to be highly
approximately 97 million by 2020. The growinghelpful for the economy.