Drug makers face another $65 billion patent cliff

Market Watch  | Russ Britt 

Drug makers face another patent cliff in which the industry will lose roughly $65 billion in revenue through the end of 2019, according to a research firm’s report.

But the 376-page study from London-based GlobalData says this cliff will be more widespread than the $95 billion drop in sales the industry experienced from 2010 to 2013. And the industry is better equipped to deal with its consequences.

“Companies are still intent on retaining market share and retaining their historical presence in these areas,” said Joshua Owide, GlobalData’s director of health-care industry dynamics.

Owide says that this coming patent cliff will be spread out among a wider array of companies, and over a longer time. That gives companies more time to develop new drugs, as well as implement whatever internal measures they need to have in place to prepare for the patent expirations.

“I think there’s a lot of optimism in general,” he said.

Still, several companies will feel the sting. Perhaps the biggest hit will be absorbed by Otsuka Holdings Ltd. which sells the anti-psychotic drug Abilify. Bristol-Myers Squibb also markets the drug with Otsuka.

A European Blueprint for the Deployment of Telemedicine

The Momentum project has released the European telemedicine deployment blueprint to assist "telemedicine doers" introduce healthcare services at distance through information technology. Telemedicine can make healthcare delivery safer, better and more efficient and thus help address challenges to our healthcare systems, but it can disrupt conventional medicine. The blueprint for doers describes 18 critical success factors for telemedicine deployment with detail, context, indicators, and descriptions, including an attachment with case studies. The documents can be accessed here:

• Momentum Consolidated Blueprint (pdf, 112p, 6MB)
• Attachment to Momentum Consolidated Blueprint (pdf, 0.5MB)

The Momentum blueprint builds on an earlier and shorter version of the 18 critical success factors that was released in May 2014. Since then, healthcare stakeholders from across the EU Member States joined dozens of conference presentations, moderated workshops and online fora to provide feedback on the critical success factors and to contribute to a more detailed and more refined document.

Where pharma’s future lies

 Pharmaphorum | Hanno Wolfram*

As payers increasingly look at costing the value a drug brings, pharma must focus on, and publicise, the wider benefits its treatments bring to society, and stop the 'sales' mentality when interacting with doctors.
  We are very privileged to live in the 21st century, when people are living longer and in better health than ever before. Though the pharmaceutical industry has contributed greatly to this, few are grateful and many people, politicians and payers distrust it.

 
Status quo: It is about money

In recent months some pharma companies have pulled out of particular areas of business. However, there can be many reasons why they end expensive research programmes. It may be because of poor results in phase II and III clinical trials, leaving researchers and experts disappointed, having in some cases spent years of their life tracking down a disease and trying to match a possible treatment.

But stepping out of a market may make sense if the new product will not have a commercial chance in the market. If competitors are there already, a 'me-too' with few clinical differences, even in biotechnological agents, makes no financial sense.
"The price agreed in one country would harm the pricing in many other countries"Another reason for termination is when payers restrict the drug's price. Often, such pricing issues extend beyond a single healthcare system. In Europe, for example, what a healthcare system will pay for a drug depends on comparisons with prices in other countries.