The Issues

Forecasting is becoming more important for the pharmaceutical industry due to three main factors: the emergence of the generics industry; the marketplace becoming more competitive; and the search for the latest blockbuster. This ultimately means several key questions for the pharmaceutical company: how big will the market-share be for the drug? What will be the implications of generic copies of the drug? And how can we eliminate non-blockbusters earlier on in the process?

Because of this, companies are realising that forecasting must take a more central and more prominent place in the hierarchy of the organisation, and it must be key to any strategic decision-making. Forecasting methodologies must now take into account all the main variables and disseminate the findings across all branches of the company so there is inter-departmental streamlining, particularly when it comes to supply chain management and hence demand planning.

Furthermore, companies need to know what these variables are which need to be taken into account, what these are, and how much significance they should attract. Total Market Forecasting 2006 examines all these major issues for the pharmaceutical industry