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1.3.2.3 Economics
Chapter 1
The pharmaceutical industry is a major industrial asset to the European economy, strongly
research-based and one of the best performing high technology sectors. Europe produces more
than 40 % of the world’s pharmaceutical output by value, making it still the world’s leading
manufacturing location ahead of the US (over 30 %) and Japan (20 %).
1985 1990 2000 2001
EUR millions
R&D expenditure 4300 7900 17000 18900
Pharmaceutical market value at manufacturer’s prices 27600 42100 87000 98700
Pharmaceutical market value at retail prices 43200 67900 131000 151600
Employees
Employment 437600 505000 540000 582300
Table 1.3: Economic data for the European pharmaceutical industries
[21, EFPIA, 2003]
Although Europe still leads the world in pharmaceutical manufacturing, the US has taken the
lead in innovation in terms of R&D investments and the introduction of new pharmaceuticals,
e.g. patenting biomedicines.
Like many other industries, the pharmaceutical industry is undergoing change. In addition to
constantly assimilating new technologies into its research and adjusting to changing market and
regulatory environments, a number of pharmaceutical company mergers are taking place.
The pharmaceutical industry is highly fragmented. The largest companies have less than 5 % of
the worldwide market share for pharmaceuticals. Perhaps as a result, mergers and acquisitions
have become more frequent. Some examples are the merger of the two British companies Glaxo
and Wellcome; the merger of the life sciences operations of Hoechst, Marion Merril Dow,
Rousell, and Rorer in a series of transactions to form Aventis; Sanofi merged with Synthelabo;
Novartis which was formed by a merger of the Swiss companies Ciba Geigy and Sandoz; and
the merger of Astra and Zeneca to form AstraZeneca.
1.3.3 Vitamins
[2, Onken, 1996, 6, Ullmann, 2001]
Vitamins are essential, organic compounds which are either not synthesised in the human and
animal organism or which are formed only in insufficient amounts. Pro-vitamins can be
converted to the vitamin in the body. A typical representative of the pro-vitamins is β-carotene,
which is split into two molecules of vitamin A in the organism.
Vitamins are classified not chemically but by their activity. The historical distinction between
fat- and water-soluble vitamins has been retained to this day, since the solution properties are
important not only for the occurrence, but also for the behaviour of vitamins in the organism
(resorption, transport, excretory pathways, and storage).
Fourteen compounds or groups of compounds have been classified as vitamins (Table 1.4).
The worldwide market value for vitamins as a bulk product is estimated to be
EUR 25600 million (DEM 50000 million) per year [6, Ullmann, 2001].
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