PHARMACEUTICAL EXCIPIENTS MARKET ANALYSIS

Pharmaceutical Excipients Market Size and Trends

Global pharmaceutical excipients market is estimated to be valued at USD 10.11 Bn in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 17.55 Bn by 2031, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% from 2024 to 2031.

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The market growth is driven by increasing demand for generic and biologic drugs, rising geriatric population, and growth of pharmaceutical industry. Emerging markets and increasing demand for multifunctional excipients can offer market growth opportunities.

Growing pharmaceutical industry and increasing pharmaceutical production

The pharmaceutical industry has witnessed significant growth in recent years due to increasing drug development activities and production worldwide. This rising pharmaceutical production can boost demand for pharmaceutical excipients. Pharmaceutical excipients refer to the inactive substances used as carriers or diluents in drug formulations and delivery systems to facilitate administration of the active pharmaceutical ingredient in the body. These play vital roles in ensuring the accuracy of dosages and enhancing efficacy, stability and safety of drug products. With numerous new drugs in the pipeline and growing patient volumes globally, pharmaceutical manufacturers are heavily investing in scaling up production capacities. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2019-2021, there was a 30% increase in the number of medicines approved by Stringent Regulatory Authorities across major markets like U.S., Europe and Japan. This increase in newly developed and approved drugs require precise excipients to produce final drug formulations in large commercial quantities. Excipients help pharmaceutical companies to efficiently manufacture medications in tablets, capsules, creams, ointments and other dosage forms for widespread distribution and access. As drug manufacturing activities continue expanding, there will be need for compatible and high-quality excipients.  For instance, according to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations in 2022, the pharmaceutical production in Europe had increased by 4.6% to EUR 300 billion in 2021. This increase in production value reflects rise in the volume of pharmaceutical manufacturing, thus, boosting demand for pharmaceutical excipients.

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Rising health expenditure and improving access to care

Traditional excipients were primarily used for dissolving, diluting or carrying the active ingredients but modern medicine requires excipients that can perform sophisticated functionalities. Many new drug formulations catering to chronic diseases rely on specialized excipients that can control drug release properties over an extended period of time or deliver drugs to targeted sites in the body. For example, COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna employ lipid nanoparticles and mRNA that help in intracellular delivery of mRNA and a robust immune response. New diabetes drugs uses hydrogels and polymeric microspheres to release insulin gradually throughout the day obviating the need for multiple injections. Rising biologics and genetically engineered therapies that impose stringent manufacturing and stability requirements can also drive the market growth. Biologics are large and complex molecules that rely on stabilizers, buffers and surfactants during formulation, storage as well as delivery. According to the data from World Health Organization, biologics now account for over 30% of new drug approvals. Their development until commercialization takes extensive research and testing of excipients to ensure the drug maintains its performance. This has stimulated extensive R&D on functional excipients that can better preserve biologic structure and activity.