The last two years have been eye opening and game changing. From radically changing individual lifestyles to disrupting almost all processes that structure industries and economies – the pandemic has brought our global civilization’s ways in question. However, with challenges also come opportunities.
As the situation seems to limp back to a new normalcy, enterprising individuals and innovative businesses have adapted, and hopefully, will overcome. The pharmaceutical sector along with nutraceutical manufacturer and contract manufacturing pharmaceutical companies too have been presented with huge challenges as well as opportunities.
Aside from the large-scale vaccination drives across the world directly impacting the sector at large, a host of related trends have changed the way even the best pharmaceutical companies in India are going to be running their business from here on out.
So what are some of these trends that we must understand, respond to, and succeed with?
1.Speciality care and individual-focus
With the pandemic, individuals were/are forced to evaluate their lifestyles. With this, also comes an increasing tendency to self-medicate. A greater shift towards the digital world combined with a rapid e-commerce penetration further allow an individual to find more ways to take care of their health – through vitamins, minerals, “traditional solutions”, and other supplements.
This opens up avenues for more robust patient engagements as well as patient-centric formulations. A pharmaceutical manufacturer in India will see an increased demand for natural as well as allopathic vitamin & mineral supplements. This also implies pharma companies will try to leverage consumer insights to develop products and subsequently, demand for such products.
2.Ecommerce-focus
The ease and increased availability of health products on ecommerce platforms will pave the path for servicing potential patients. Brands and businesses will have to re-evaluate their supply chains as well as their marketing & customer reach efforts.
Not only the brands themselves but even third party manufacturing pharma companies in India will see a modified supply chain in their revenue as their products can now be accessed by patients through ecommerce platforms. This e-commerce shift and changing consumer-supplier-manufacturer interaction is also giving rise to e-pharmacy aggregators who are changing the traditional means of accessing medications in India.
3.Innovation-focus
As this virus forced us to deepen our body of research, innovate, and reinvent our production processes – R&D has gained even more importance going forward. Investments in contract research organisations have already started increasing, and they will continue to penetrate across the global pharma industry in 2021.
As companies continue to adapt to remote working conditions and increased digitisation, companies across the sector will invest in artificial intelligence and technology. AI has steadily been gaining trust across sectors, especially in manufacturing. The need for advanced technology and AI will spread across creating new drugs, quality testing, distribution, along with marketing and promotion.
These are the main drivers of a changing landscape in the pharmaceutical industry. Reactions to a crippling pandemic combined with increased digitisation has set the stage. Establishments all across the sector & all across the world will start powering R&D and innovation – from specialised nutraceutical distributors in Munich, Germany to leading pharmaceutical manufacturing company in India.
