The biopharmaceutical sector is built to breed innovation from the ground up. If you think about it, drug patents are only scheduled to last for a grand total of 20 years, and that is sometimes from the point at which a company begins preclinical trials. In other words, around half of a drug's protected period can be spent running pre-clinical and clinical tests on efficacy and safety. This means the bread-and-butter period of success for even the biggest blockbusters tends to only be about one decade.
To add, the march toward creating better drugs never stops. Just because a new hepatitis-C drug hit the market two years ago doesn't mean the other four companies making hep-C drugs are suddenly going to go home with their hands in their pockets pouting about what could have been. Biopharmaceutical companies need to always be on their toes and trying to outdo their last drug if they hope to maintain success. Like technology, these drugs become bull's-eyes as soon as they're approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the next group of biopharma companies to unseat.
That's why today I'm looking at seven drugs that I feel have the power to remain a disruptive force in their treatment field throughout the next 10 years. Some are already approved by the FDA; others are not. Obviously, there could be a lot of variables here as it's difficult to see 10 years out and understand what discoveries could be made, as well as what monkey wrench clinical trials or the FDA could throw out to the handful of drugs still in clinical stages mentioned below. What I do believe, though, is that each drug below has the tools to become a dominant force over the next decade and you should, at minimum, be watching their progress. Let's begin with three recently approved drugs that have incredible potential.
