Pharma 2020 series

Overview of the Pharma 2020 series published by PwC since June 2007. In this series we describe the challenges and opportunities the industry will face and what changes are necessary to capitalise on them.

In our sixth release of the series, PwC discusses how pharma companies must develop different supply chain models, learn to use supply chains as a market differentiator and revenue generator, and recognise how information will drive the downstream flow of products and services.

The fifth in the series focuses on the industry's opportunities and challenges from a tax perspective. It discusses how the political, economic, scientific and social trends currently shaping the commercial environment, together with the development of new, more collaborative business models, will exert increasing pressure on effective tax rates within the industry. It also shows how companies can adapt their tax planning to support the provision of outcomes-based healthcare and remain competitive.

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.

This paper, the third in the PwC Pharma 2020 series, 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 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 the first in the series, 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.