This from Ed Silverman's Pharmalot blog on how the Big Pharma groups are coping with generic competitors. The top strategies are outlined below:
How Brand-Name Drugmakers Fight Generics // Pharmalot.
- Patent challenges pursued by 60% of companies
- Defensive pricing strategies by 57%
- New formulations by 50%
- New indications pursued by 45%
- ONLY 29% tried to produce their own generic
In the next 3 years, even more emphasis will be placed on new formulations (63%) and new indications (56%).
Survey participants were brand and product managers from Merck, Pfizer, Novartis, Eli Lilly, AZ, Boehringer Indgelheim, Gilead Sciences and Roche.
I think it is interesting that the strategies that are outlined are largely those decried by the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) when challenging whether changes to drugs represent true innovation under Indian Patent law or are really incremental innovations. I've written about that previously here, here and here. Kind of interesting to see that this is the preferred strategy of the industry at present.
Posted by Bruce Lehr July 23rd 2010.
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