Les groupes pharmaceutiques doivent "s'adapter ou mourir"[en] 

After apparent market stability between 2002-2006, the two largest sectors of infectious disease drugs - antibiotics  and antifungial drugs - experienced a significant decline from 2005 to 2006 as patents of blockbusters had already started to expire, writes Datamonitor.

This has left "all of the top players with some tough decisions about what sort of presence they should maintain in the market, or even if they should remain involved at all," it adds. Antibiotics, which alone represent some 52% of sales in this €26 billion market, registered an 8% fall from 2005 to 2006.

The Datamonitor report, published on 13 February 2008, gives a commercial insight and provides an analysis of some key companies' portfolio management strategies regarding the anti-infectives market, which comprises antibacterials, antifungals, antivirals and anti-HIV. It shows that even lower volume antivirals sectors, which have "pushed market values over recent years," are registering a slowdown, whereas antiretrovirals to fight HIV are about to witness the first patent expiries. 

"At best, the pharmaceutical companies involved in the market will be seriously re-thinking their core-competencies to find a means of re-invigorating sales, and we can expect to see a few decide that their resources are best spent elsewhere," said Jonathan Angell, a senior analyst of infectious disease at Datamonitor. 

In January 2008, the European Commission raided the offices of a number of top pharmaceutical companies and launched a major inquiry into competition in the European pharmaceuticals sector. According to the EU executive, the inquiry was launched because fewer new pharmaceuticals are being brought to market, and the entry of generic pharmaceuticals sometimes appears to be delayed. The inquiry will therefore examine whether anti-competitive practices in the sector are hindering innovation.