The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Diabetes drugmakers eye Persian Gulf and rest of The Middle East:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304773104579268230000378394

Pharmaceutical companies that specialize in diabetes are targeting the Persian Gulf for investment by forming local partnerships and eying the establishment of manufacturing facilities to cater to the millions of people forecast to develop the disease within the next two decades. The region is one of the next frontiers for those drug companies that are looking for growth and have already invested in developing their businesses in the emerging markets of China, India, Russia and Brazil, consultants say.

…The moves are all in reaction to the growing diabetes epidemic in the Persian Gulf and wider Middle East, where prevalence of the disease is as high as 24% in Saudi Arabia…

Some related factoids:

• Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are in the top-10 nations globally for the highest prevalence of T2D. (The other seven are tiny island nations in the Pacific Ocean.)

• About 35M people in North Africa and the Middle East have T2D, 11% of the worldwide total.

See #msg-64624702 for related info.