Europe Small Molecule Drug Delivery Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Country Analysis - by Therapeutic Area; Process/Phase, and Country

Europe small molecule drug delivery market is expected to reach US$ 13,381.71 million by 2027 from US$ 6,835.97 million in 2019. The market is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 9.0% from 2020 to 2027.

The growth of the Europe small molecule drug delivery market is estimated to grow owing to the key factors such as growing demand for R&D from contract organizations along with the growing developments and start-ups in small molecules. However, high cost associated with drug development is the major factor hindering the market growth.

There are a growing number of drug delivery companies (DDC) actively seeking for appropriate drug candidates for unique delivery systems. These DDCs, sometimes do serve as the contract manufacturer. Many larger and traditional CROs are focused on small molecule NCEs and generics. These contract providers are therefore working to build specialty groups to deal with the frequently diverse and specialized needs such as gene therapy, cytotoxic drugs, and biotechnology product Hence, large pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing R&D activities to increase the speed of the drug development process, along with reducing their development and manufacturing costs. In the last few years, the pharmaceuticals industry has witnessed rapid growth in outsourcing services, driven by many factors such as the growth of small molecules, increase in API complexities, and growing need to reduce development costs.

To minimize the high fixed costs of in-house development, manufacturing capabilities, and expertise, pharmaceutical firms rely on CROs. In the past two decades, the pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) ecosystem has been growing exponentially. Drug Development & Delivery has stated that between 2001 and 2018, the number of therapeutic molecules under development and the number of companies engaged in research has more than doubled and tripled. However, according to most industry estimates, R&D failures remain high due to complexity in the development of new molecular entities (NMEs), and approximately 90% to 95% of drugs fail before reaching the marketplace. With new drug approvals on the rise (the FDA approved 48 NMEs in 2019) robust clinical development pipeline and the demand for outsourcing have increased. Many biotechnology companies are taking advantage of CROs to expand their small molecule pipeline.

Based on the therapeutic area, the Europe small molecule drug delivery market was segmented into oncology, central nervous system, cardiovascular, respiratory, orthopedics, immunology, rare diseases, and other therapeutic areas. The oncology segment held the larger share of the market in 2019. However, rare diseases is anticipated to register the higher CAGR in the market during the forecast period.

Based on process/phase, the Europe small molecule drug delivery market is segmented into target discovery, target validation, lead generation and refinement, and preclinical development. In 2019, the lead generation and refinement segment held the larger share of the market, however, target discovery segment is anticipated to register the higher CAGR in the market during the forecast period.

Some of the major primary and secondary sources for Europe small molecule drug delivery market included in the report are European Investment Bank (EIB), World Health Organization (WHO), National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).