Nightmare on Blockbuster Street!

Ohh, the patent cliff.  When a drug nears the end of their patent, they become fair game for generic manufacturing.  For most companies, this cliff can be as the title suggests... a nightmare.  If they have nothing to replace the product losing branded exclusivity, they are toast.




And this brings us to companies like AstraZeneca, who had a tough year in 2012, trust me, I should know.  By 2015, they could be hitting a patent cliff for what's left of their portfolio  mainly losing Crestor, a blockbuster statin.  The article discusses some of the options/alternatives for companies to better prepare for the impending cliffs.  In AZ's case it is common knowledge that they have been scrambling for the past few years to develop their pipeline, but continually have come up short in the R&D department, which has really hindered their growth.  Marketing has always been a strength, but they can only co-promote with so many companies.  They need to acquire or merge with another company yesterday, and new CEO, Soriot knows it too. 

The article states that the era of big pharma "megamergers" is over, and we may actually start to see companies dissolve into smaller, more focused entities.  As the industry has evolved with more biologics, replicating via biosimilars may not be easy, which might buy some companies a little more time as the next big patent cliff in 2015 arrives.  On the bright side, the rate of new drug approvals is on the rise, indicating the R&D drought could be ending (fingers-crossed). Analysts are suggesting that this will actually allude to overall growth in sales for the industry.  Buckle your seat belts fellow pharma friends!





Check out article @ FiercePharma:
Nightmare on Blockbuster Street