Although the U.S. is currently the largest generic drugs market by revenue globally, this is expected to change gradually and dominance will soon shift to emerging markets including India, China and Brazil, according to a survey from business intelligence provider GBI Research.

The company’s latest report states that, according to an extensive survey of 47 generic drugs industry experts conducted by GBI Research, 29% believed that China would become the highest revenue-generating emerging market for generic drug manufacturers in the next five years. This was followed closely by India at 23% of respondents. 

Deekshita Allavarapu, analyst for GBI Research, states, “Although the U.S. is currently dominating the generics market, emerging markets have been the most important geographical growth drivers for generics in the recent past. For example, Indian pharmaceutical companies are already well positioned in this industry, with their advanced technological capabilities and low-cost manufacturing.

“Despite emerging economies having relatively lower healthcare spending than developed economies, their healthcare costs are expected to significantly rise in the near future, driven by the adoption or expansion of universal healthcare and a growing incidence of lifestyle diseases.

“In countries such as China, obesity and diabetes are on the rise and disposable incomes are increasing through the expansion of the middle classes. In this way, the adoption of generic drugs is very likely to be seen as a strategy to control costs, given the potential savings these types of drugs can represent.”

Overall, GBI Research believes the generics market is dynamic and will continue to grow faster with continued demand for pharmaceuticals and efforts to lower healthcare costs. Due to the anticipated high adoption of generics in emerging economies, generic drug companies have started to more aggressively target these countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey, as these markets are expected to exhibit significant increases in generics production.