Cleveland 6/9/2011 2:31:35 AM
Excipients Demand to Approach $2 Billion in 2015
US
demand for excipients will advance 3.9 percent annually to $1.9 billion in 2015,
driven by continued growth in US pharmaceutical production and the increasing
importance of functional excipients in drug formulation. As pharmaceutical manufacturers seek to
offset the impact of intensifying generic competition and increasing production
costs, excipients -- once viewed as simple carriers for active ingredients --
are increasingly being called upon to add value to pharmaceutical
products. Excipients can be used to
extend shelf life and stability, to improve manufacturing efficiency, and to
control the release of medicine in alternative dosing formats such as orally
disintegrating tablets (ODTs) and inhalants.
Nevertheless, growth will lag that of pharmaceutical output as most
excipients are commodity substances with limited pricing flexibility. Fillers and diluents will remain the leading
application served by excipients, and will offer the best growth
opportunities. These and other trends,
including market share and product segmentation, are presented in US
Excipients, a
new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry
market research firm.
One
of the most important developments in the excipient industry is the preparation
of special excipient blends that provide manufacturers with
ready-made combinations of fillers, binders, disintegrants, lubricants and
other products, reducing manufacturing time and standardizing materials to be
combined with active ingredients. Some
of these blends are specially formulated for use in direct compression, a
method of tablet formulation that eliminates several processing steps used in
wet and dry granulation. The direct
compression excipient market is rapidly expanding, especially for polymer
products such as microcrystalline cellulose and povidone.
Polymers
will remain the top-selling group of pharmaceutical excipients,
due to their importance as fillers and binders in tablet formulations. Cellulosics will command especially strong
growth opportunities as fillers, controlled-release agents and enteric
coatings, followed by povidone, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and acrylic polymers
as disintegrants and suspending agents, and starches as low-cost fillers and
binders. Among the alcohols, propylene
glycol will experience faster than average growth as an emulsifier, suspending
agent and stabilizer. Sugars will retain
importance, producing high volumes based largely on the processing advantages
of lactose as a tablet filler, diluent, and most recently as a drug delivery
agent for inhalants.
The Freedonia
Group is a leading international business
research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry
research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook
and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product
segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats
and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and
company profiles.
