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Vaccine development industry continues to grow
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The vaccine development industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years, according to study findings.
From 1995 to 2008, researchers observed the growth of the vaccine manufacturing industry with a global pharmaceutical industry database and found that the number of companies researching and manufacturing vaccines had more than doubled to 136 globally. The number of products being developed had also increased and more than doubled to 354. All of the products were either being researched or were in early phases of clinical trials. However, because not all vaccines that are researched will become products in the coming years, there is no way to tell how industry growth will translate into sales, the researchers noted.
The database contained data on more than 41,000 pharmaceutical compounds. For each vaccine, information was available regarding the type of vaccine and its sponsoring company.
“Vaccines have typically been seen by industry as having limited profit potential compared with therapeutic drugs,” Matthew Davis, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases and internal medicine at the University of Michigan, said in a press release. “But our study results indicate very strong growth in this industry, suggesting that vaccines are not only rewarding medically — they also are rewarding for the companies that develop them.”
In addition, the researchers studied the vaccine development patterns of four major vaccine manufacturers active in the U.S. market. All four also had drug therapies they were developing at the same time. They found that three of the four companies markedly increased the share of their total pharmaceutical product portfolio dedicated to vaccine development during that period.
Davis M. Vaccine. 2010;28:1353-1356.