 |
||||||
|
THE PHARMA REVIEW APRIL 06
Generic Drugs : New
Initiatives, Strategies and Pitfalls
Dr. H.P. Tipnis Abstract:
It is now the writing on the wall that in 2006 nearly $15 billion worth of
drugs will be out of patents. This will include such well known brands such
as Pfizer’s antidepressant drug, Zoloft; Sanofi-Aventis insomnia drug,
Ambeinm; GSK chemotherapy drugs, Zofran and two cholesterol lowering drugs,
Zocor of Merck and Pravachol of BMS. Not only this but in 2007 another $27
billion worth of drug patents will came to an end, in 2008 $ 29 billion and
by 2020, $ 44 billion worth of drugs will come off patents. Already the
USFDA office in Rockville, MD, is flooded with generic drug applications for
equivalents of these blockbuster branded drug products. No doubt this gives
jitters to big pharma companies, like Pfizer having the world's best selling
drug, lipitor (Sales $ 11 billion) and others, losing 80 percent of their
revenues, being exposed to generics through loss of patent protection. It is
going to be very difficult for all the these giant companies to find new
blockbusters to replace what loss of patent protection will take away. With
medicare part D, prescription drug plan (PDP) bill becoming effective from
1st January 2006, generic drug market will get additional boost in the U.S.
This bill will make it compulsory for pharmacies in U.S. to tell customers
what generic drugs are available for the branded drugs written by their
doctors in their prescription. Further they must also explain the difference
in prices between a branded drug and the lowest priced generic version. All
this makes the generic drug industry poised for tremendous growth over the
next several years.The above content is an abstract only. For the full Article please contact: |
||||||
|
||||||
