Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the British consulting firm Evaluate Pharma predicted a sales growth of 6% for the pharmaceutical industry in 2020. However, analysts now estimate that the industry as a whole could have suffered a sales reduction of around 1%. The well-established pharmaceutical business was the hardest hit sector, due to a drop in both standard prescriptions and the demand for cancer medication. This is a direct effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Considerably fewer people made doctor’s appointments for fear of catching the disease, and the treatment of many at-risk patients was postponed.
Compared with the previous year, the expected sales growth for the entire industry this year lies just under 6%. The established pharmaceutical business is set to return to normal and COVID-19 vaccines are expected to boost initial sales significantly. Together, Moderna and Bionetch are on track to produce almost three billion doses of the vaccine. The resulting direct sales would amount to 30–60 billion dollars.
This growth trend is expected to continue unabated until 2026. Evaluate Pharma forecasts an annual market growth of around 7%, in part due to foreseeable solid innovative performance, which will be reflected in future sales. The main driving factor is the continued progress made in molecular biology and genome research. Biotechnology plays an ever growing role in the life sciences industry.
Continued growth comes with its own challenges. There has long been a shortage of specialists in the pharmaceutical industry, which is only expected to worsen as the industry grows in the coming years. As they have very specific requirements, biotechnology companies in particular will find it increasingly difficult to fill vacancies with specialists and executives just by publishing job advertisements on their own websites or through job portals. A direct line from a recruitment consultancy to potential specialists is frequently the most effective solution.
BESTMINDS Executive Search is a recruitment consultancy specializing in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries. Marianne Jaschke is the BESTMINDS expert when it comes to recruiting specialists and executives in the life sciences and specifically in biotechnology. With over 20 years of experience in these industries, she has a perfect grasp of the challenges of recruitment. Please do not hesitate to contact her to talk about how to fill your vacancies when you need to.
