Oman Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare

Summary

Oman has one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region and, as described in BMI's newly published Oman Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report, the drug market is growing rapidly, at some 10% per year. This performance is being driven predominately by a rapid increase in population and the growing contribution of the private sector. Private healthcare is a growth industry in Oman and throughout the GCC, for two main reasons. The first is a trend towards excluding expatriate workers from public healthcare schemes, forcing them to rely on the private sector. The second, is the emergence of a sizeable medical tourism sector with many patients now seeking treatment in high class hospitals in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rather than in the US or Europe.

The recent Oman-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has also resulted in a marked improvement in Oman's intellectual property rights (IPR) legislation, including the implementation of a data exclusivity regime, and tougher penalties for counterfeiters. However, the drug regulatory system in Oman is considered to be below international standards, with multinational drugmakers claiming that it is opaque and somewhat arbitrary. It is also criticised for providing high levels of protection to local manufacturers. Plans to harmonise the drug regulation process in the GCC could help standardise procedures in the country.

BMI's adjusted Business Environment Rankings for the MENA region reveal that the Oman is in fourth place behind the UAE, Bahrain and Turkey. This is primarily due to forecasts of high market growth, coupled with the country's new intellectual property regime. Oman's limited domestic manufacturing industry and lack of technological capabilities has also made the country an excellent investment opportunity for foreign drugmakers, although the outlook is tempered somewhat by the small overall market size.

Development in the country's healthcare sector could increasingly focus on the provision of outsourced pharmaceutical production as the GCC begins to challenge markets such as India and China in this field. Gulf drugmakers have the advantage of being able to offer low-cost drugs, which have been manufactured to a high standard. Local player Oman Pharmaceutical Products Company (OPPC), is attempting to exploit this avenue through offering contract manufacturing to multinationals.

Key Benefits of Report

• Rely On Our Independent 5-Year Forecasts As A Benchmark
  to test other views - a key input for successful budgetary and strategic business planning.
• Target Business Opportunities & Risks
  through our reviews of latest industry trends, regulatory changes, and major deals, projects and investments
• Exploit Latest Competitive Intelligence & Company SWOTS
  on your competitors and peers through company rankings by sales, market share and ownership structure – includes multinational and national companies.

Scope of Report

An at-a-glance perspective on latest regulatory developments, key forecast indicators and major corporate developments, covering the prescription, OTC and generics markets. The SWOT outlines strategic factors which affect BMI’s forecast analysis, and taken together with BMI’s Economic and Business Environment SWOTS, give a complete overview of market climate.

Outline of market characteristics, growth factors, leading therapeutic segments and a competitivness of the market.

Guide to and analysis of country intellectual property developments and pricing & reimbursement issues, which constitute the regulatory make-up of the market.

Focus on government healthcare reforms, epidemiological trends, company M&As, product launches, market entries, FDI activity, R&D and patent legislation.

5-Year Forecasts to end-2010 for all key industry indicators (see list below), supported by explicit assumptions, plus analysis of key downside risks to the main forecast, including:

• Drug market expenditure (US$bn); drug expenditure per capita (US$); as % of gdp
• Prescription drug market (US$bn)/as % of total market; sales by alimentary tract/metabolism; antibiotics, cardiovascular, central nervous system, oncology, musculoskeletal and respiratory system
• OTC market (US$bn)/as % of total market (sales by analgesic, cough and cold, digestives, skin treatments, vitamins and minerals)
• Generics market (US$bn)/ as % of total market
• Health expenditure (US$bn, % of gdp and per capita); public sector health expenditure as % of total; number of hospitals; beds, hospital admissions, doctors, births and deaths per 000 population

Forecasts based on bespoke BMI economic modelling, using historical data sets of macroeconomic and industry variables to derive rigorous statistical relationships, anchored in advanced linear regression techniques.

BMI forecasts for all headline macroeconomic indicators, including:
Nominal and real GDP, % real GDP growth, % private consumption growth, % industrial output growth, % consumer price index, % GDP price deflator, exports, imports, trade balance, current account balance, foreign direct investment, exchange rate against US$, government expenditure, external debt

Intelligence on the market position of major MNC power houses and indigenous companies. BMI profiles key research-based companies. Company SWOTS are provided for all key strategic players, complete with a company activity overview, its leading products and analysis of business opportunities.

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