Expansion of the global antibiotics market size

The global antibiotics market size is expected to reach USD 62.06 billion by 2025 expanding at a CAGR of 4.0 percent, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising prevalence of infectious diseases, especially in developing regions like Asia Pacific and Middle East, is anticipated to contribute to the market growth.

More than 15.0 percent of the deaths in children below the age of five years, are estimated to be due to pneumonia and according to the statistics provided by the WHO about 9.2 million deaths were recorded in 2015. Similar to tuberculosis, the disease is highly prevalent in the South Asian and Sub-Saharan regions. Currently, the required antibiotic treatment is available only to one-third of the infected population, thereby increasing the disease burden.

Government reforms specific to antibiotics, such as the Generating Antibiotics Incentives Now (GAIN) Act in US, are projected to help boost the market growth over the forecast period. This is further expected to facilitate development of advanced drugs. According to an article published by the Pew Charitable Trusts, nearly 30 percent of the outpatient oral antibiotics prescriptions are unnecessary and majority of these are prescribed for disease conditions, such as non-bacterial infections and acute respiratory conditions, against which antibiotics are not significantly effective. Such indiscriminate use of antibiotics is anticipated to increase the risk of difficult-to-treat antibiotic-resistant infections, thereby increasing the economic burden.

Further key findings from the study suggest:

• RNA and folic acid synthesis inhibitors are anticipated to witness healthy CAGRs over the forecast period
• Development of several antiviral drugs, which inhibit transcription and reverse transcription process are anticipated to support this growth
• Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the highest CAGR over the forecast period on account of large population base, prevalence of infectious diseases, regulation reforms, and wide usage of generic medicine
• Latin America, especially Brazil, is also projected to exhibit remunerative growth due to strong growth in pharmaceutical sector
• Outbreak of certain viruses, such as Ebola, in African region contributed to the region’s growth

Some of the key companies in the market are Pfizer, Inc; Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Abbott laboratories; GlaxoSmithKline plc; Sanofi S.A.; Novartis AG; Bayer AG; Bristol Myers Squibb Company; Eli Lilly & Company, and Astellas Pharma, Inc.