China will be in third place in global medicines ranking by 2014. According to forecasts by IMS Health consultants, the US will remain number one in the pharmaceuticals sector in 2014, with total market share of 30%, worth $ 1,058 million, followed by Japan. In the period stretching 2004-2014, China will have leapt up the league table by six places and into the top three in the pharmaceuticals market, pushing France down from third to fifth place. Brazil is also climbing up the table, moving from 10th into 6th place. Robert Chu, the Director General of IMS Health France underlined that, “although the growth of the US market contributed to 27% of global growth between 2005 and 2010, this contribution will fall to 11% between 2010 and 2015. At the same time, the contribution made by China will increase from 12% to 26%”. The reasons for this upward mobility are linked to the ageing population and reform of the health system, which will give access to healthcare to 1.3 billion people, as opposed to the more moderate 400 million figure today. The United Kingdom is also dropping down the scale from 6th to 12th place. Russia, however, climbs from 20th into 11th place. The global medicines market is expected to grow by 4.8% in 2011 and will be worth $918.6 billion but there is a clear distinction between older economies (whose growth rate does not go above 5%) and the emerging economies, whose growth rates could rise by 20% in the case of China, 15% for India, 12% for Russia or 11% for Brazil. Within the older economies, product category distinctions can be observed and specialist medicines will see greater growth than so-called “urban” products prescribed by general practitioners. The former is expected to have growth rates of 6%, while the latter is expected to have growth rates of 4%. (I.L./transl.fl)