Many companies not in these hot sectors of the industry will be compelled to pursue cost-cutting to maintain previous levels of operating profit growth and some may resort to M&A activity to bolster sales performance and/or strategically realign themselves.

However, recourse to M&A should not be surprising when looked at in the historical context, as this has already acted as the PharmaVitae universe's primary growth driver in the period between 2002 and 2008, accounting for a greater proportion of growth than internal R&D operations.

Key reasons to purchase this title

Gain a true understanding of the threats facing the pharmaceutical industry's sales performance and which sectors will be most heavily impacted Assess the effectiveness of cost-cutting programs on operating profit performance in a period of low sales growth Evaluate the impact of M&A on companies' historical performance and see how low top-line sales growth could prompt a further wave of consolidation

Source: Datamonitor