Foreword ® The EvaluatePharma World Preview 2019 comes at one of the most exciting points in the industry’s development. The convergence of tech and health is becoming reality, while the promise of cell and gene therapy is 昀椀nally being delivered to patients. With such technological advances that could o昀昀er hope of real cures and the growing demand from emerging economies, reaching the report’s forecast of $1.18trn sales in 2024 could become a reality. As ever there are potential hurdles to achieve these sales. The advances in cutting edge science are, for now, outpacing the traditional pricing and reimbursement systems the industry has been built on. This disconnect is leaving both patients and payers wondering how accessible these life-altering products will be. Spark has charged $850,000 for its gene therapy product Luxturna and many are expecting Novartis to ask upwards of $2m for its SMA product Zolgensma. And as more and more gene therapies enter the market the questions around their additional burden on an already stretched healthcare industry will only intensify. The commercialisation of these new technologies come as discussions around wider drug pricing are heating up ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections – and regardless of the outcome, the political and social momentum to address rising drug prices is unlikely to go away. But the picture is not all gloom. Even with pricing pressure there remains signi昀椀cant unmet need within the industry, which will continue to drive innovation and drug sales. One example of this is that the report 昀椀nds that the most valuable R&D treatment is Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ orphan drug triplet treatment for cystic 昀椀brosis, with 2024 sales forecast to hit $4.27bn. The increasing convergence of tech and healthcare will also provide fresh opportunities for the industry. We are already seeing the use of real world evidence to measure the actual performance of drugs post approval and drive future investment decisions. Machine learning techniques are being employed not only to speed up drug discovery, but also drug development with the hope that data-driven approaches will help reduce R&D costs and industry failure rates. ® 3 EvaluatePharma World Preview 2019 Copyright © 2019 Evaluate Ltd. All rights reserved.