Home / Insights / Outcomes of the Soaring Patent Expirations

insights-espresso-icon whitepaper

Outcomes of the Soaring Patent Expirations

Espresso-live Speakers
by Beroe Inc.
3 August 2012

The imminent arrival of the dreaded ï¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Æ’??patent cliffï¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Æ’?? has been haunting the Pharmaceutical industry. When drugs lose patents, 90% of sales are siphoned off due to lower price generics. The industry is currently estimated around USD 850 billion and is expected to reach USD 1,100 billion by 2015. At present around 13 to 15 blockbusters are set to lose patent protection through 2013. It is believed that nearly USD 73 billion worth of drugs will go off patent from 2012 ï¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Æ’?? 2016, out of which USD 44 billion in 2012. Ultimately, this could result in generic industry to blossom but only for a little time because only fewer blockbusters would be coming out of patents after 2015. To resolve the patent cliff issue, big companies beef up their portfolios by buying smaller developers with promising new treatments. Companies look out for late stage opportunities, that is take up products that have been developed to final stages of clinical trials and then add some edge over it. A perfect example would be AstraZenecaï¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Æ’??s takeover of Ardea Biosciences. Ardea is a biotechnology company fo-cused on the development of small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases. Ardea has an attrac-tive pipeline with several drugs like Lesinurad URAT1 transporter inhibitor for chronic treatment of gout and BAY 86-9766, formerly known as RDEA 119 used for the treatment of cancer. These drugs are in advanced clinical stages. With AstraZenecaï¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Æ’??s major heartburn drug Nexium to expire in 2012, which generated sales of USD 5.2 billion in 2011 and an-other antipsychotic drug Seroquel which has lost its marketing exclusivity in March 2012, which could mean a loss of USD 4.3 billion for the company leaves a huge concern for the future. It was inevitable that the Company should look out to strengthen its future in order to generate revenue. Thus, AstraZeneca strategically acquired Ardea for USD 1.26 billion.

SHARE
Linkedin Twitter Facebook
Leave a comment

Please enter a valid name

Post your comment

Please select captcha

Instagram

Get more stories like this

Subscirbe for more news,updates and insights from Beroe

Get Ahead with AI-Enabled Market Insights Schedule a Demo Now

Schedule a Demo Now