This is the interesting element of the article ” An analysis by the US Federal Trade Commission indicated that a ban on patent settlements between brand and generic drug-makers would reduce spending on prescription drugs by $3.5 billion each year. The elimination of these deals, in which drug manufacturers pay potential competitors to delay the launch of generic products, would serve “as a way to control prescription drug costs, restore the benefits of generic competition, and help pay for healthcare reform,” the FTC stated on Tuesday…..the study results demonstrated that settlements involving payments to generic drug-makers added 17 months on average to the time a generic product took to reach market, compared to cases where there were negotiations about timing but no payments.”

If you would like more detail in this area please get in touch with Damien Bové damien.bove@idaconsultants.com

Damien Bové works as a drug development consultant (pharmaceutical or biotechnology) and regulatory consultant, we work with our clients to define a drug development target, define a drug development strategy, define a regulatory strategy or define a commercial strategy. Our clients are generally raising funds or looking to license out their technology and we help them achieve it. If you want to know more don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Grow your Expertise for Free

As you know this website is a great resource for keeping up to date with developments and regulations, why not get our FREE monthly regulatory and market round up. You can un-subscribe at any time and we do not share your details with anybody.

The article argues that the pharmaceutical industry’s evolving business model in response to growing regulatory constraints has so far helped it maintain profits and growth will face some serious challenges in the near future and these challenges may overcome whatever changes the industry can come up with and impact strongly on profits. The two larges challenges are the global economic downturn and the President Obama’s planned overhaul of the US health care system.

The pharam industry’s model of “pharm 2.0″ has helped it overcome reduced R&D efficiency, increased price competition and increased generic competition, but how will the industry fair against these even larger challenges.

In the US (the worlds largest drug market) the economic downturn means that more and more people are now being left uninsured (approximately 15% of the population) and public provision will have to grow to accommodate them, but budget constraints will lead to increased pressure to abandon expensive brands in favour of generics and biosimilars, also drug reimporting will cut into markets.

Many small companies are facing a bleak future as they are unable to raise the development capital they require. How will the industry respond to these challenges, more mega mergers, a switch away from in-licensing to internal R&D as smaller companies fail to survive long enough to delivery their technologies up stream.

Its an interesting article and worth reading in full.

If you would like more detail in this area please get in touch with Damien Bové damien.bove@idaconsultants.com

Damien Bové works as a drug development consultant (pharmaceutical or biotechnology) and regulatory consultant, we work with our clients to define a drug  development target, define a drug development strategy, define a regulatory strategy or define a commercial strategy. Our clients are generally raising funds or looking to license out their technology and we help them achieve it. If you want to know more don’t hesitate to get in touch.