Global prescription sales of biotechs increased 12.5 percent last year to more than $75 billion, according to a new report by IMS Health, which also notes that the global biotech market grew at nearly double the rate of the global pharmaceutical market, which increased 6.4 percent in 2007.

Last year, 22 biotech drugs generated sales exceeding $1 billion, compared with six meds in 2002. Last year, targeted oncology therapies, auto-immune agents, anti-diabetic agents, and pure vaccines represented both the majority of the market and majority of growth, according to IMS.

The US remains the largest market for biotech drugs, representing 56 percent of total sales last year. The five major European countries have steadily increased their share of this market over the past five years, to 24 percent in 2007, while Japan’s share declined to 5 percent. (Here are more charts).

But growth rates may slow over the next few years due to patent expirations, competition from biosimilars, crowded therapy areas with weaker sales growth, reluctant payers and safety concerns for some therapies, such as the EPO drugs. “After 20 years of what some would call a ‘charmed life,’ biotech is now facing a new reality,” Murray Aitken, senior vp, in a statement.