China, Brazil, Russia and other emerging countries are becoming bigger customers for pharmaceuticals as they invest more in treating and diagnosing cancer, according to a report issued today by IMS Health.

The health care research firm expects pharmaceutical spending in countries such as India, Mexico and Turkey to grow by 12 to 13 per cent over the next 15 years, compared with single-digit growth for more developed nations.

Cancer drug spending is expected to grow between 12 and 15 per cent annually through 2012 to USD 75 to 80 billion, according the report.

The overall drug market is expected to grow at 6.4 per cent.

Feeding that demand are the multibillion-dollar research and development budgets of firms like Genentech Inc, Amgen Inc and Novartis AG.

“Oncology is the top of the bill when it comes to new products in development,” said Titus Pattel, a vice president with IMS. “Oncology R&D dwarfs all other research efforts within these organizations.” Cancer drug sales are expected to reach USD 48 billion this year, led by Genentech’s breast cancer drug Herceptin, Novartis’ leukemia drug Gleevec and other blockbusters.