Here’s What You Need to Know about the Growing Industry.
While markets around the world experience unprecedented volatility due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the global pharma vaccine market has been brought to the forefront of everyone’s attention.
The Global Vaccine Market: Overview
The global pharma vaccine market is worth over USD 40 billion today and is projected to demonstrate impressive growth in the next decade. The market is largely driven by factors such as:
- Technological progress in vaccine production
- Increased government interest in immunization programs
- Demand for novel and effective vaccines for a number of endemic diseases such as malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis
Overall, the pharma vaccines industry is extremely competitive and heterogeneous, as both large and small players are continuously pushed to develop novel vaccines. In addition to the substantial up-front costs of R&D for novel vaccines, there are also obstacles in obtaining regulatory approval, as different countries have different requirements.
The Race for a Vaccine Against COVID-19
While the industry is largely consolidated to four large players – GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Pfizer and Merck, several smaller pharma companies have recently seen a huge flood in trading activity related to their efforts in developing a COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna, a biotech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts was the first company to begin Phase I clinical trials in the United States with its mRNA-based vaccine. Despite reporting just $60 million in sales last year and having yet to complete phase 2 studies on any of their 20 pharmaceutical candidates, stocks soared 34% this year. Moderna’s recent developments highlight the fact that smaller companies in the vaccine industry can successfully carve out a niche provided they have the technological know-how to tackle unmet medical needs.
Figure: The Global Vaccine Market
Featured image: Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash
