Although there is a lot of doom and gloom surrounding Brexit in the UK’s pharmaceutical sector, not to mention most other industries in the country, it appears that the situation isn’t all bad for some businesses in the pharma sector.
Consultancy.UK recently shared research from Alantra, which revealed that privately owned pharmaceutical companies in the UK have seen impressive sales growth in the past two years.
In fact, the organisation revealed that all of the country’s 50 fastest-growing pharmaceutical businesses have boosted sales by at least ten per cent in the past two financial years, with one even managing an impressive 77 per cent increase in sales in this time period.
That figure sets Qualasept Pharmaxo apart as the fastest growing private firm in this sector in the UK, the news provider noted.
According to the news provider, there are certain things that have helped all the firms listed in the top 50 achieve such impressive results. This is primarily due to being able to “isolate and then communicate a diverse set of value drivers, including societal issues such as the economic case for a product, as well as patient outcomes”.
For some companies, that has meant branching out and offering services that might be considered outside pharmaceuticals, but that still very much have a place within the sector.
A founding director of The Research Partnership Mark Jeffrey told the news provider that his firm has moved into providing specialist market research for pharmaceutical organisations working at every stage in the product cycle.
“This is a global market, with emerging market customers becoming more and more important to us. Our value driver is the strategic direction we can give clients based on this data,” Mr Jeffrey said.
Partner at CLL Consultants Alex Marshall identified another trend to watch in the sector. He noted that private equity investors are becoming increasingly interested in such businesses, where consolidation is becoming more common.
He described it as “a rare opportunity to invest in a market where the leading players are generating organic growth of ten per cent or more each year”.
Mr Marshall added that other ways in which it appeals from an investment perspective is that the market is still “reasonably fragmented” and there is a lot of potential in areas such as digitalisation and health economics.
The UK biotech sector is another that has been attracting the attention of investors. Lexology recently reported that the UK biotech sector raised a record £2.2 billion in venture and private equity funding.
This is up considerably from the £1.2 billion recorded last year, with the BioIndustry Association (BIA) noting that this now makes it the fifth most attractive area in the world for this kind of investment.
In addition, follow-on funding for the sector was also up by 45 per cent last year, with over half of this money coming from US investors. The news provider noted that this indicates that “UK science is increasingly being viewed as an attractive investment proposition by US investors”.
One of the reasons is thought to be the currently favourable US dollar/sterling exchange rate, the article added.
If you’re looking for pharmaceutical repackaging services, contact us today.