The South & Central America drug modelling software market is expected to reach US$ 606.80 million by 2027 from US$ 359.46 million in 2019. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.1% from 2020 to 2027. The growth of the drug modelling software market in South & Central America is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of in silico modelling tools and rising economic burden in drug discovery. Additionally, growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in drug discovery and increasing number of strategic activities performed by market players are likely to fuel the growth of the market during the forecast period. However, less adoption of drug modelling software in emerging countries is likely to restrain the growth of the market.
Drug modelling is an essential tool in the drug design process. Software-based drug discovery and development methods play a key role in the development of novel drugs. Software-based methods, such as molecular modelling, structure-based drug design, structure-based virtual screening, ligand interaction, and molecular dynamics, are considered as powerful tools for the investigation of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of drugs. These methods are fast and accurate, and they provide valuable insights of experimental findings and mechanisms of action. In addition, appropriate implementation of these techniques helps reduce cost of drug designing and development.
Discovery and development of new drugs with potential therapeutic applications is a complex, expensive, and time-consuming venture. Considering these challenges, many advanced technologies have been developed to increase the efficiency of the drug discovery process. Computational methodologies have become a crucial part of several drug discovery programs. From hit identification to lead optimization, techniques such as ligand or structure-based virtual screening are widely used by many pharmaceutical companies. Existing data can be leveraged with the help of modelling to gain insights on product safety and effectiveness. Nowadays, in-Silico design (computer-aided) is being utilized to expedite and facilitate hit identification, optimize the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and toxicity profile to avoid safety issues. Commonly used in-silico approaches include ligand-based drug design, structure-based drug design, and quantitative structure-activity.
These methods are faster and provide valuable insights to experimental findings and mechanisms of action. Moreover, various pharmaceutical companies adopt these techniques for better outcomes. Large pharmaceutical companies prefer different routes toward innovative drug discovery. The mode is to set up in-house “NCE discovery units”, which serve as the innovation engine. A variation of this theme is to establish biotech-like drug discovery units outside the country and perform discovery and development processes through this collaborative medium. These approaches have seen steady increase in the number of compounds in the clinical development. Moreover, many research organizations have also started adopting drug modelling technologies for expediting the research process. Thus, above mentioned factors are expected to drive the growth of the drug modelling software market during the forecast period.
The countries in South & Central America are sequencing complete COVID-19 genome. For instance, countries in this region are the most intense COVID-19 transmission zones due to the crowded urban settings. In these countries, concerns are rising about the pandemic's impact on the treatment of noncommunicable diseases, according to officials of the World Health Organization (WHO). Furthermore, trials of vaccines, including those developed by Johnson & Johnson, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca, are already underway or due to start shortly in South and Central America, which is a current hotspot of the pandemic. Thus, continuous research on the discovery of drug and vaccine for the COVID-19 disease, using drug discovery platforms, is expected to fuel the growth of the market.
Based on product type, the software segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2019. The same segment is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of this segment is attributed to the rise in demand for effective therapeutics and increase in drug discovery efforts of various biologics across a wide range of therapeutics. In addition, strategic activities, such as collaborations, product advancement, and product launch, are performed by service providers to reduce the time required in drug discovery accelerating the growth of the market.
A major secondary source associated with the South & Central America drug modelling software market report is the World Health Organization (WHO).