New Delhi: Exponential growth of chronic diseases can propel India amongst the top 10 pharmaceuticals market in the world by 2020, says global consulting firm Pricewaterhousecoopers.

Sujay Shetty, associate director, pharmaceutical and life science, PWC, said, "Chronic disease will grow exponentially with India''s economic growth. India will be host to some of the largest number of diabetics, cardiovascular disease patients in the world."

While releasing a global report, Pharma 2020: The vision--which path will you take? Shetty said, the onset of such diseases was also at a much younger age compared to the West. As a result, apart from increased spending on preventive medicine owing to rising incomes, the deteriorating health of young Indians would expand pharmaceutical market in the country.

Highlighting the rising incidence of diabetes, the report said the number of Indians with the disease is projected to afflict 73.5 million by 2025 and the direct and indirect costs of treating a diabetic are currently about $420 dollars per year.

"If these costs remained the same as they are now, India''s total bill for diabetes will be about $30 billion by 2025," the report said, adding as economic wealth grew and standards of care improved, treatment costs were likely to rise.

Comparing the cost of treating a patient with diabetes in the US, which is around $10,844 dollars a year, the report said, "If India''s per capita expenditure rose to just one-tenth of this level, the total cost of treating all patients will be $79.7 billion by 2025."

Shetty said spending on such chronic diseases would be a significant burden on both the patients and the government.

"This will significantly impact India''s GDP growth," he said, adding the government would have to devote larger proportion of healthcare expenditure on preventive measures.

The report, which has predicted the global pharmaceutical market to more than double in value to $1.3 trillion by 2020, said emerging countries — Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey — could account for as much as one-fifth of global pharmaceutical sales.

On the other hand the globalisation of R&D and manufacturing indicated that the next stars of global pharma would be from India''s top vaccine and generic companies.

He said, any company wanting to serve the Indian market successfully would have to devise strategies that were tailored to individual needs.