Publications, thought leadership & studies

Therapeutic and diagnostic biologics helped drive venture capital investment in the overall human biotech sector in 2008 and are the fastest growing subsectors within the life sciences industry. Read more on the impact biotech is having on pharma.

To get a clearer understanding of the great potential and opportunities offered by biotechnology-based drug discovery, PricewaterhouseCoopers carried out an investigation of the German landscape of drug discovery and biotechnology together with the Council of German BioRegions.

The pharmaceutical and life sciences industries face unprecedented compliance challenges, and the close regulatory scrutiny of the industry is likely to only increase. Globalisation, information protection requirements, business partnerships, heightened transparency expectations, external reporting obligations, and other drivers are forcing companies to re-examine their enterprise approach to information technology (IT) governance, risk, and compliance (GRC).

Fourth in the Pharma 2020 series, this report explains why Pharma's fully integrated business models may not be the best option for the pharma industry in 2020 and why more creative collaboration models may be more attractive. The paper also evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative business models and how each stands up against the challenges facing the industry.

The report covers various subjects that are considered to be of concern to the pharmaceutical industry and/or investors in the pharmaceutical (pharma) industry in China.

This paper discusses how the industry is no longer being rewarded for incremental innovation, me-too products and selling the most pills. Companies need to add value to patients, and offer a package of products and health services that the market is willing to pay a premium for.

The 2009 report on California’s biomedical industry report is a collaborative effort between the California Healthcare Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers. It offers a comprehensive overview of the impact of the biomedical sector on California’s economy and includes data on employment, wages, education and investment, as well as a snapshot of the product development pipeline.

Pay-For-Performance is a pricing concept under which the price paid for a given medicine is intended to reflect the economic benefits of a drug at an individual patient level. This paper discusses the issues and provides guidance as to when revenue may be recognised under these arrangements

Innovators in the health industry may be able to profit and grow their business in 2009, despite adverse economic realities and a prediction that the economy will continue to slow. However, to do this business leaders will also have to face additional external forces including new financial realities, regulations, technology and a new president and Congress. The PricewaterhouseCoopers' report from the Health Research Institute (HRI) identifies nine significant issues that will impact the health industry in 2009. The report also addresses the implications of these issues for businesses and the industry-at-large.

President-elect Obama has indicated that his administration will reform the American health system to expand access and make health care more affordable. However, his administration will need to address how these programs will be paid; the impact of expanding health insurance coverage; and the potential shortages or strains these reforms could pose for the existing health care system. This report examines the challenges the President-elect faces, explains how these reforms may be enacted, the potential impact for employers as well as those in the health industry and provides five ideas for making health care more affordable.

The dynamics of pharma outsourcing and location decisions in Asia are changing. Cost reduction is being augmented and companies need to set their strategic sights on a future world. This report highlights the dramatic change and development in pharmaceutical outsourcing in Asia.

To gauge readiness and reaction to the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals legislation, or REACH, PwC’s International Survey Unit interviewed 241 senior executives across 6 industries in 29 countries. Overall, we found that two in five companies have limited awareness of the regulation and one in four executives believes Europe’s complex chemicals legislation will have no impact on operations.

The second paper in the PwC Pharma 2020 series, explores how pharma companies could dramatically improve the R&D productivity. It contends that by 2020 the R&D process may be shortened by two-thirds, success rates may dramatically increase, and clinical trial costs could be cut substantially. New computer based technologies will create a greater understanding of the biology of disease and the evolution of "Virtual man"; to enable researchers to predict the effects of new drug candidates before they enter human beings. Along with changes underway in the regulatory and socio-political environment, this will enable Pharma to overcome one of the most fundamental issues it needs to resolve over the next decade.

This report is an update of the 2004 and 2005 volumes 1 and 2 of IFRS Issues and Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry. The objective of this new edition is to give greater clarity on various grey areas of definition and interpretation that could have been raised following the implementation of the standards in 2005.

This third publication of IFRS Issues and solutions for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries has been prepared to stimulate discussion and represents a first step in trying to establish a common platform or framework.

This review is based on an analysis of the 2006 financial statements of 12 major pharmaceutical entities reporting under IFRS. The aim is two-fold:

-to help pharmaceutical companies to compare their disclosure against their peers'
-to help users of financial statements to interpret and understand the methods and presentational options adopted in the financial statements

This report addresses particular accounting issues the pharmaceuticals and life sciences sector faces when using the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). The aim is to highlight the industry-specific factors which need to be considered, and to provide an opinion on the most pertinent accounting solutions for commercial situations under US GAAP.

Pharma 2020: The vision: Which path will you take? indicates that the current pharmaceutical industry business model is both economically unsustainable and operationally incapable of acting quickly enough to produce the types of innovative treatments demanded by global markets. In order to make the most of these future growth opportunities, the industry must fundamentally change the way it operates.

The report is based on in-depth interviews with 185 senior pharmaceutical executives across nine different territories in the region: China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.